Judge denies NYC police union request for restraining order to block de Blasio vaccine mandate

A Supreme Court judge in New York will not prevent a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from taking effect for New York City's cops, dealing a blow to the city's largest police union, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA).

The ruling from Judge Lizette Colon, reported by the Associated Press, came after she heard arguments from the PBA, which filed a request for a temporary restraining order in hopes the mandate for the city's municipal workforce would be dismissed.

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In addition to Colon's ruling on the mandate, the judge, according to the AP, ordered city officials to "appear in court Nov. 12 to defend the requirement against a union lawsuit seeking to have it declared illegal."

Municipal workers, including police officers, firefighters, garbage disposal workers and other city employees, will now be required to show proof that they have received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 5 p.m. ET Friday. Those who fail to comply with the mandate, pushed by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, will be put on unpaid leave beginning Nov. 1.

"Today’s ruling sets the city up for a real crisis," said PBA President Patrick J. Lynch. "The haphazard rollout of this mandate has created chaos in the NYPD. City Hall has given no reason that a vaccine mandate with a weekly testing option is no longer enough to protect police officers and the public, especially while the number of COVID-19 cases continues to fall."

Lynch said "the NYPD’s leadership spins its wheels and offers no guidance" as officers are "being told to make a possibly life-changing decision in a matter of days to meet a completely arbitrary deadline."

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"This not only violates police officers’ rights, it will inevitably result in fewer cops available to protect our city," Lynch concluded.