NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos Funeral Draws 20,000 Mourners; Police Turn Back on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio
More than 20,000 police officers and other mourners packed Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens on Saturday for the funeral of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos, who was killed by a lone gunman with his partner about a week ago.
"Being a cop was not what they did. It was who they were," USA Today quoted Vice President Joe Biden as saying at the funeral service in the church whose entrance donned a huge Christmas wreath with shiny ornaments.
Addressing officers, Biden added, "You all joined for essentially the same reason. There was something about you that made you think that you could help. That you had a duty [to the rule of law]."
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Ramos and another officer, Wenjian Liu, 32, were killed at close range on Dec. 20 as they sat in their squad car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn in a likely revenge for the police chokehold death of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.
Soon after the shooting, the suspect, identified as 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, fled to a nearby subway station, where he was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
"When an assassin's bullet targeted two officers, it targeted this city and it touched the soul of the entire nation," NBC News quoted Biden as saying.
The day Ramos, 40, was murdered, he was to graduate as a lay chaplain in a program that involves training to deal with people in crisis.
He "didn't just have a Bible in his locker, he lived it in his heart," Biden added. "He was a cop for all the right reasons."
Demonstrations against the New York Police Department have been taking place since Dec. 3, when a grand jury failed to indict a white police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, in the chokehold death of Eric Garner who was killed in July while he was being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes. This came weeks after a Missouri grand jury also decided not to indict white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of a black teen, Michael Brown.
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," Biden said at the funeral, quoting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also spoke. "We are a nation of laws. We are a state of laws. We are a city of laws," he was quoted as saying. "You represent those laws. No one, no group is above the law. The threats against New York's police are an insult to law-abiding New Yorkers and they will not be tolerated."
No NYPD officer is alone, Cumo said. "Every New Yorker stands with you today," he added, according to The New York Times.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who also a speaker at the funeral, said, Ramos "couldn't wait to put on that uniform. He believed in protecting others."
"Those that are called to protect others are a special breed," de Blasio added.
Many officers outside of the funeral turned their backs on de Blasio as he appeared giving his speech on outdoor screens, according to NBC News.
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch had blamed protesters and de Blasio for the deaths of the two officers.
Cuomo praised the NYPD for handling protests. "The NYPD protected the right of freedom of speech even though they themselves were the target of false and hateful tirades by some," he was quoted as saying at the funeral.
At a service Friday evening, Ramos' wife, Maritza, and two teenage sons, Justin and Jaden, spoke at the church.
"What happened to my father was a tragedy, but his death will not be in vain," Justin Ramos was quoted as saying. "My dad was a hero. He touched so many lives and will continue to do so."
Ramos' sister, Cindy, also spoke Friday. "Even though I didn't say it as much as I should, I love you from the deepest depths of my soul," she was quoted as saying. "My brother, my heart aches so much right now. Please pray for me as I know you always did. Help me understand why God took you from me so soon."
