Who’s To Blame: The City, The People, or The Shooter for the death of Two NYPD Officers?

John Rodriguez

December 23, 2014

On the afternoon of December 21st while sitting in their marked patrol car police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were struck down by Ismaaiyl Brinsley. Executing the officers in an execution-style murder, Brinsely committed the murders claiming it to be revenge for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

Taking to his Instagram, Brinsley an image with following terrifying caption that would act as both his confession and suicide note: “I’m Putting Wings On Pigs Today. They Take 1 Of Ours…Let’s Take 2 of Theirs #ShootThePolice #RIPErivGardner #RipMikeBrown,” he ended the post with “This May Be My Final Post.”

Staying true to his Instagram post, and shooting his girlfriend in Baltimore, Brinsley traveled to NYC and unfortunately crossed paths with Officers Liu & Ramos where the unexpected officers were brutally murdered. Brinsley would flee the scene and would later take his own life.

“Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, in connection with any violence or killing of police is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases,” said Reverend Al Sharpton in a released statement.

Despite Brinsley being the one to have committed the murders, there has been an ongoing discussion on the deaths of the officers. Particularly, who is to blame for the murders?

From Bill de Blasio:

“I think when the mayor made statements about that he had to train his son to be—his son who is biracial—to be careful when he’s dealing with the police, I think that set off this latest firestorm,” said Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said, “Quite frankly the mayor ran an anti-police campaign last year when he ran for mayor so there’s a bit of a residue.”

Kelly’s comment is suggesting that since the grand jury’s decision to not indict Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the murder of Eric Garner after using an illegal chokehold. The failure to indict the officer set off a series of protests throughout the city and has stirred tensions between police officers and New Yorkers.

To President Barack Obama:

“We’ve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police,” said Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R). The former mayor was quite blunt on where the blame should be placed during an appearance on Fox News early Sunday, Giuliani also added that the “ protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion: The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong.”

And the people of New York City as well have been blamed for the officers’ deaths.

According to Pat Lynch the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union, the heinous murder of Liu & Ramos are due to the recent protests sweeping across the city.

For Lynch the officers’ “blood [are] on my hands tonight,” and also on the hands of “those that incited the violence on the street under the guise of protest” including the “office of the mayor” are to blame for the officers’ deaths.

At a press conference, an upset Mayor De Blasio called the murders an assassination. Addressing the murders, the Mayor said that the loss “goes at the very heart of our society, our democracy, when a police officer is murdered it tears at the foundation of our society. It is an attack on all of us, it is an attack on all we hold dear. Our entire city was attacked by this heinous individual.”

But where does the blame truly lie?

All of us: everyone within the New York City Police Department, the Mayor’s Office, and anyone who has been voted into office to represent the city and those who inhabit it.

The spin that is coming out from those who represent the NYPD and those who are opponents of President Obama and Mayor de Blasio (like Giuliani & Kelly) that the people who protest and the people who do not stop them are to blame isn’t just wrong but a great error against what this country was founded on: the freedom to free speech, the freedom to gather, the freedom to stand up against injustice.

But more importantly: Ismaaiyl Brinsley is to blame because he took it upon himself to commit a heinous act because he was a mentally unstable man. Like Sharpton said, any violence committed in the name of justice is more than likely to hinder the pursuit in obtaining it.

Violence does not erase violence but spreads it and seemingly permits its continuation.