A pair of videos showing NYPD officers dancing with parade-goers at Gay Pride Parade over the weekend is gaining attention online not only for the cops' smooth moves but their cheery interactions with the people around them.
In one video posted on Facebook by Bill D'Ottavio, an officer expertly steps, turns and slides to the popular hip-hop line dance song "Cupid Shuffle" alongside several paradegoers. One bystander rushes to join in the dance, and the grinning officer plucks the rainbow flag from her bag and holds it as he continues to dance. He then hugs some of the dancers and departs.
While not taken on the Pride Parade route -- Facebook commenters pointed out it appears to have been taken at the Eighth Avenue Summer Festival -- the video shows parade attendees streaming through and the video caption was tagged "#pride" and "#prideparade."
Another cellphone video posted on YouTube by user Paige Ponzeka showed a member of the LGBT Big Apple Softball League approaching an officer in uniform and dancing as Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" blasts over the speakers. The officer, laughing, breaks out into dance as onlookers scream and cheer.
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Posted by Larry Debuno on Sunday, June 28, 2015
Viewers delighted over the video, leaving comments like: "Good on the cop for not being all uptight, but instead joining in the celebration and the acceptance of another human being" and "I think that's awesome! Regardless of sexual preference, skin color and all that, we all bleed the same!! 'Bout time, bet ya that's a good cop too!!!! Have fun, dance, laugh, love, live. Life's too short."
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More than 20,000 people marched in the parade, which stretched two miles from midtown to Greenwich Village. It was an especially jubilant celebration following the Supreme Court ruling Friday that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.
Also last week, the mayor and police commissioner outlined a new community policing strategy.
"We're talking about officers who now come in and become part of the community, who really become partners with the community," de Blasio told NBC 4 New York in an exclusive interview. "Everyone's going to get to know each other. The officer is going to be the same officer in the same community on the same schedule."
