Always yelling. Pat Lynch may sound like a Kennedy — but he’s no Kennedy for sure
Pat lynch, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) president got a taste of his own medicine this week when scores of union members reportedly shouted him down at a meeting Tuesday.
The union members in essence turned their backs on Pat Lynch. They are even talking of ousting him in the June PBA election.
He had been railing about trying to secure an apology from Mayor Bill de Blasio for allegedly creating an anti-police environment — reckless and dangerous allegations. Union members now are beginning to see through Pat Lynch’s canard.
(And New Yorkers also according to a poll disapprove by 69% cops turning their backs and reject by 77% Pat Lynch’s “blood” libel of de Blasio).
How ironic that this purveyor of hateful comments against Mayor de Blasio and a ring leader of police insurrection now discovers that he is not in charge of the NYPD after all, as he might have thought.
After the non-indictment of two officers for their extra-judicial execution of two unarmed Black men, Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO., and Officer Daniel Pantaleo, on Staten Island, N.Y., protest marches against police brutality and corrupt judicial processes that allow officers who commit crimes to get away, were launched around the country.
Officer Wilson gunned down unarmed Michael Brown who presented no threat to him, in broad daylight; and in New York, Officer Pantaleo, who was also armed and could have easily arrested Eric Garner instead chose to lynch him with his arm from behind. He ignored Garner’s plea that he couldn’t breathe, not once, but 11 times.
After Pantaleo killed Garner Pat Lynch praised him for using “proper” police procedure in reference to the banned chokehold.
The protests of the non-indictment of Wilson and Garner became national campaigns against police abuse and judicial miscarriage; they were not confined to Ferguson or New York City.
They were not instigated by Bill de Blasio. The marchers came out following the non-indictment of officers whom they believe committed crimes and were not indicted.
There were tens of thousands of demonstrators and given such large crowds it was inevitable that there would be some who would make hateful comments against the police. Just as in a large force such as New York’s 35,000 police force, there are also brutal, corrupt and racist officers.
Then when a deranged gunman killed two NYPD officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, the PBA President Lynch was quick with hateful words that could be interpreted as inciting violence towards Mayor de Blasio.
“There is blood on many hands, from those that incited violence under the guise of protest to try to tear down what police officers did every day,” Lynch said. “That blood on the hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor.”
Utterly insane comments meant to chill legitimate protests while at the same time channeling hate towards both the mayor and demonstrators.
Pat Lynch owes a personal apology to Mayor de Blasio and a separate apology to the people of New York City for his hateful comments.
Emboldened by hate from the top, at the funeral of Officers Ramos and Liu, many police officers turned their backs at Mayor de Blasio — these were not only acts of profound disrespect but more seriously, of insubordination of an armed force against the elected civilian authority in the person of the mayor.
The officers should have been suspended without pay or fired if possible.
We warned in a previous editorial that Mayor de Blasio would lose control of the police force if he did not take decisive action.
The mayor wants to be remembered for his civility compared with predecessor Michael Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani. While it may be possible to deal a little more passively with New York’s Board of Education teachers should they disagree with the mayor and protest through acts of indiscipline, but it’s all together something else when dealing with an armed force such as the police.
Now Patrick Lynch gets a taste of the indiscipline he encouraged against Mayor de Blasio. Perhaps this is the beginning of the demise of one of New York’s most divisive characters.
Instead of turning their back on him union members should vote out Pat Lynch in the next PBA leadership election.
