Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Press Availability with NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton at West Indian American Day Carnival Association Labor Day Parade

September 2, 2014

Mayor de Blasio: Maybe we can formally ascertain that it is hot and humid enough today for the parade. We’re feeling it already but we’re looking forward to a great parade. What’s on your mind?

Question: Any comments on Senator Cruz’s comments about the Bronx having border problems or Manhattan having border problems –

Mayor: Say again?

Question: Any comments about Senator Cruz’s comments about Manhattan having border problems?

Mayor: I haven’t heard those comments, honestly.

Question: [Inaudible] I understand overnight, including one homicide [inaudible]. Can you comment on that please?

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton: We did unfortunately have an incident this morning before the morning parade. A criminal opened fire at the crowd with one individual deceased and two others injured. The individual that did the shooting was taken into custody immediately by police. A very unfortunate circumstance that – in terms of the event that we’re here to enjoy today, where there’ll be over a million people here celebrating peacefully and happily. [Inaudible]

Question: Where was that sir?

Commissioner Bratton: It was over at Empire Boulevard, at the beginning of the early morning parade that they have over here before the big one here at 11 o’clock.

Mayor: I just want to emphasize – you have a million people, plus, coming here each year. A vast majority of people – very safely and appropriately and I think the NYPD does in incredible job working with the community, keeping this event safe. That’s the pertinent reality.

Question: Do you have any thoughts to whether – to who wins lieutenant governor? Would you campaign for him? What do you think? Are you nervous for Kathleen Hochul?

Mayor: I don’t deal in hypotheticals, as you know. I think Kathleen Hochul is doing great. I think she won, originally, in Western New York in a tough district and she proved her ability as a vote getter and as a candidate. I think she’s going to be the democratic nominee for lieutenant governor and I look forward to supporting her [inaudible]

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you, or the Commissioner, talk a little bit more about the security measures in place today. NYPD helicopters are obviously up – there’s lots of cops around – can you talk a little bit more about what you’re doing to safeguard [inaudible]

Mayor: I’ll just start then pass to the Commissioner – I’ve been coming to this parade now for almost 20 years. I think the NYPD, and folks who have been absolutely outstanding – again, close consultation with community leaders. This goes – months and months of planning and it’s an amazing effort and I think it’s something we should all be proud of. 
Commissioner Bratton: I was just actually talking to a retired cop who covered this event in 1969 and – at least he claimed – that he was in charge of the event in 1969, as a police officer. So, it’s come a long way. We’ll have over a million people here today – over 4,000 New York City police officers assigned to this event, as well as the other events going on throughout the city. The helicopters – we do have a couple up there largely for traffic control. We are anticipating a very good event [inaudible]. This is a very well planned – a very well structured event. We’re going to have a good time. I last did this 20 years ago, in 1994 – I remembered my earplugs this year. I’ll be putting those in shortly because you will need them.

Mayor: I also just want to thank Commissioner Nigro for everything he does [inaudible] extraordinary effort that the fire department’s undertaking to get ready for Thursday with our pre-k effort. I want to thank him - him and his team for all they have done. 

Question: Zephyr Teachout told reporters that her politics are pretty much aligned with yours. I’m wondering if you consider her a political ally in that regard.

Mayor: I don’t know her well. I respect her, but I just don’t know her work well. But again, I’m supporting Governor Cuomo. I think Governor Cuomo has delivered a lot for this city in just the eight months we’ve been working together and I look forward to actively campaigning for him both in the primary and the general.

Question: I just wanted to ask you – Commissioner Bratton mentioned that there were 4,000 police officers – obviously there’s helicopters – you know, there’s a lot of planning that goes into this. Is it worth the effort when there still are shootings and issues of violence?

Mayor: Over a million people come here – the vast, vast majority have a positive, peaceful time. Unfortunately, there’s always a few individuals who get out of line but the NYPD handles that very well, very gracefully.  You know, I think that this is an event of incredible importance to the Caribbean-American community in this city – over half a million New Yorkers of Caribbean inheritance. This is the event they look forward to each year. It’s also a great tourist event. It brings in people from all over. So I think it’s been an extraordinary success story and I give the NYPD a lot of credit for that.

Question: Would you be willing to do [inaudible] with the youth?

Mayor: I look forward to spending time with the youth.

[Laughter]

Question: Any comments about the coming school year? You know, universal pre-k?

Mayor: We feel great. People have been working all through the weekend – great preparations in place. As we’ve said, we’re looking at any program – if we’re not satisfied, we’re not going to open that individual site. There will be a handful of those. But the vast majority of the sites are coming along very, very well – a lot of excitement, a lot of energy, as you’ve seen in some of the reporting. Principals, teachers, people getting ready, because we know it’s an historic moment for this city and it’s going to be a game-changer for our school system. So we feel great and we are well over 50,000 enrollees and I think it’s going to be a great success.

Mayor: Anybody who has not gone yet – going –

Question: Commissioner, I just wanted to ask – regarding the shooting overnight, there was undercover police that were involved. Can you explain a little bit about that?

Commissioner Bratton: Yes. Thanks to the mayor and his support, we have several thousand additional officers on the streets of New York every weekend, including over here in Brooklyn. At the 79 Precinct the other evening, we had three anti-crime officers – plainclothes – on overtime, who would not normally be here, encountered an individual that they attempted to stop and question him. He fled. They began to pursue. He turned and shot at them. As luck would have it, at the end of the block were two uniformed police officers fresh out of the academy, also on overtime assignment over here. They ran toward the shooting. Another shooting occurred – he attempted to shoot at those officers and did wound one of the uniformed officers. He himself – the suspect – was shot in the exchange of gunfire and he was arrested about a half-block later. I was at the station house visiting the officer. He’s in good shape – was released that evening. All of this was captured on video – an extraordinary job of officers doing what you expect them to do. They saw something, they did something – they got a career criminal who had just gotten out on parole with a firearm off the streets of Brooklyn at great risk to themselves. So they performed in an extraordinary fashion the other evening.

Mayor: I just want to echo that. I mean, this is really extraordinary professionalism. And the bravery of rookie officers, you know, looking down the barrel of a gun on the streets for the first time and they responded just the way their training taught them to. This is an extraordinary moment of people doing everything right and getting the bad guy in the process. I want to note one other thing that’s happened over the last week – it did get some coverage, but I don’t think it got celebrated the way it deserved to. You know, in just over the last week, we’ve had three situations where an NYPD officer performed CPR and saved an infant – two in the Bronx, one in Brooklyn. Now, think about what this means when one of our officers comes to the aid of a family that’s – at that moment – fearing they’re going to lose their baby and the officer saves that life. I spoke to Officer Khan who was in the first of the three – of these three heroic acts – and I said to him, “You know, I hope you realize, for the rest of your life you’re going to be able to look back and know you saved that baby’s life. You changed the course of that family’s history.” This is what the NYPD does every single day. The fact that three of them happened in just around a week’s time is an extraordinary statement on the professionalism and dedication of our officers – and that’s a story I hope gets talked about a lot more. Last call, last call – going once.

Question: Again, for both of you, the reaction to the medical examiner ruling – there was a homicide death in police custody – a gentlemen who had been, I guess, high on PCP. Your thoughts on that matter?

Mayor: Look, what we do know from the medical examiner’s report is he was high on PCP and we have, obviously, a lot of indication that he was in a very difficult situation, flailing about and not able to stop and a danger to himself and others. And from everything we’ve seen so far, the protocol was followed to protect him and protect everyone around him by restraining him. Obviously his other medical circumstances, and the drug use, played a role in his demise, but there will be a full, full investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau, by the Manhattan DA – there always has to be a full investigation. We guarantee that to all New Yorkers. But this is really a tragic incident that obviously was related to the drug use.

Question: And just from the commissioner, do you feel like the –

Commissioner Bratton: I think the – unfortunately, the medical examiner’s use of the term homicide is an ME use of it, not the legal definition. And I think for all of you – I think the public in general – they see the word homicide and they immediately conjure up images of a criminal act. It is not that. It is a medical use of a term, different than the legal term. So that, I think, unfortunately, as soon as we see homicide, everybody assumes that the officers acted inappropriately or even in a criminal fashion. That is not the case. It is a term of art, if you will, by ME’s, and it is different from what the district attorney will look at and it is certainly different from we look at. As the mayor has indicated, all the preliminary information we have on that incident – an individual who, through his own actions, precipitated the medical crises and we responded to – the request of a taxi driver who was scared to death about the behavior of the man in the back of his vehicle. And it took a number of our officers – those of you familiar with PCP – somebody under the influence of that particular drug can become extremely violent and difficult to control. So we have a protocol where we – where our emergency service people – put that individual into a wrap situation to keep him from injuring himself or any officers. So [inaudible] instances of a death while in police custody or subsequent to police custody, I just ask for patience while the district attorney does what he does very ably and what we do very ably also. We go where the facts take us and where the truth takes us.

Mayor: Okay. Thanks, everyone.

Commissioner Bratton: Thank you.