NYPD chief of department on attack by anti-police activists
Four NYPD officers injured in clash with counter-protesters; NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan speaks out.
New York Police Department Chief of Department Terence Monahan joined "Your World" Thursday for his first TV interview since he and a group of officers were attacked while making an arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge a day earlier.
"I'm feeling fine. You know, I've got a few bruises here and there. Luckily, the fingers weren't broken, just jammed a bit. So I'm doing OK," Monahan told host Neil Cavuto. "I'm doing a lot better than my sergeant and the lieutenant that was attacked."
The New York Post reported Thursday that a woman had been arrested in connection with the attack that injured three officers.
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"So we went to make an arrest. As we were arresting him, he grabbed on to a railing by the walkway and a struggle begins. The fighting starts," Monahan said. "That's when the individual comes up with the cane and hits my lieutenant in the head, cuts him open. Hits my sergeant in the head, causing him to get eight staples in his head.
"We were able to remove that individual away from the walkway. As I went back to identify the person who hit him with the cane, our bike patrol was coming," Monhan went on. "The person who hit him with the cane was able to jump over into opposing traffic and get away. But another individual took a mop handle and charged our guys on the bike, knocking them down. He ends up on top of one of our lieutenants from the bike unit and literally went to town on him, started beating the heck out of him with rights and lefts, full swings to the face.
"It was at that point, myself and my lieutenant [who] was already bleeding from his head reached over to pull him off ... " the chief concluded. "Punches are getting thrown. He breaks free from them. He gets into a boxing stance to keep going. That's when I reach over, I grab him, I was able to pull him back up towards a fence. He turns on me, throws a couple of punches my direction ... we're able to grab him, cuff him, and he was arrested for the assault on the officer ... The bike lieutenant ended up breaking an orbital bone.
Monahan admitted that officers are dealing with a particularly high level of "animosity" not just from protesters, but ordinary members of the public.
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"On the street corners, there is a feeling that they don't have to listen to the police and that they're willing to fight the police officers," he said.
Monahan later added that the level of morale among officers is "as low as it's been in a long time.
"It is important that we as an agency tell them how much we appreciate them, how much we know they're out there, the trouble that they're dealing with on the street. But more importantly, the silent majority that's out there, the community that is out there that supports our police officers, that know the job they do. They know the times they ran into a burning building to save a life. They know the times that they saved the life of a choking baby, of a cardiac victim, how often they've run into gunfire to save people. These are the men and women that you're hearing others put down on a regular basis.
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