# Cops ambushed and shot in Brooklyn **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 20, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771 "2014-12-20T21:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/1 "2014-12-20T21:20:35Z")
I hope its not related to the Brooklyn “I Can’t Breath” protests against cops. [Several cops have been punched and attacked in the last couple weeks.](http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/20/justice/new-york-protests-arrests/) Doesn’t help that their new mayor threw all the police under the bus. Still early in the investigation. This may just be a wacko. > **[Two NYPD officers ‘assassinated’ while sitting in patrol car in Brooklyn by...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2014/12/21/two-nypd-officers-assassinated-while-sitting-in-patrol-car-in-brooklyn-by-gunman-who-boasted-on-instagram-about-revenge-killing-cops-graphic-images/)** > > Two NYPD cops were executed Saturday after a career criminal drove from Baltimore to Brooklyn to kill police officers in a twisted bid to avenge the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. “… > [@](#): > > Two NYPD cops were shot when a suspect ambushed them as they sat in a patrol car in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon, police sources and witnesses said. > > The shooting took place outside of the Tompkins Houses, near Myrtle Ave. and Tompkins Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, about 3 p.m., cop sources said. > > “The perp came out of the houses, walked up behind the car and lit them up,” a high-ranking police official told the Daily News. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/2 "2014-12-20T21:29:18Z")
In what way did the new mayor throw all the police under the bus? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/3 "2014-12-20T21:39:50Z")
Right after the grand jury de Blasio issued a[public letter.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/04/new-york-mayor-bill-de-blasio-pens-an-open-letter-after-the-eric-garner-decision-there-is-much-more-to-be-done/) I can’t ever recall any public official condemn their own police force so strongly. NY has been down this road before. The cops hands were tied and crime in NY skyrocketed in the 70’s and 80’s. It culminated with the Bernhard Goetz subway shooting. It took over a decade to bring down the crime rate. Now de Blasio has his chance to screw it up all over again. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/04/new-york-mayor-bill-de-blasio-and-police-union-officials-clash-after-grand-jury-decision-in-eric-garners-death/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/04/new-york-mayor-bill-de-blasio-and-police-union-officials-clash-after-grand-jury-decision-in-eric-garners-death/) > [@](#): > > Tensions between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and some in the city’s police force came into full view Thursday, as police union officials accused the mayor of throwing the department “under the bus” in his response to a grand jury’s decision to not indict a white officer in Eric Garner’s killing. > > “Police officers feel like they are being thrown under the bus,” Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said at a Thursday press conference. “Look, last night, the protesters — we may not agree with their message, but we were protecting their right to do it. That’s what they should be saying.” ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/4 "2014-12-20T21:48:58Z")
So by not being complicit in covering up gross negligence bordering on homicide by the NYPD he’s throwing them under the bus - got it. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/5 "2014-12-20T21:53:44Z")
I hope this cop ambush is an isolated incident by a disturbed individual. I’d hate to think the anti-cop feelings are bad enough for out right murder/ ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/6 "2014-12-20T21:57:26Z")
Well I definitely agree with you there. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/7 "2014-12-20T21:58:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Right after the grand jury de Blasio issued a[public letter.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/04/new-york-mayor-bill-de-blasio-pens-an-open-letter-after-the-eric-garner-decision-there-is-much-more-to-be-done/) I can’t ever recall any public official condemn their own police force so strongly. Sorry mods for copying out such a large portion of text but I think it’s necessary in this circumstance. **aceplace57** , please point out the strong comdemnation of the police force in the following. And then explain your ‘thrown under the bus statement’ since you attributed an action to De Blasio and didn’t attribute the statement to the irrelevant and hardly credible feelings of the PBA. > [@Bill De Blasio](#): > > Eric Garner’s death was a terrible tragedy that no family should have to endure. For many across our city and our nation, yesterday’s grand jury ruling compounds feelings of grief with dissatisfaction and anger.As we reflect on the weeks leading up to yesterday’s decision and prepare our path forward, I want to share a snapshot of our short- and long-term plans to improve the relationship between police and the communities they serve. > > First, this is not the end of the story — only the end of a chapter. The NYPD and the Justice Department will initiate their own investigations. > > Second, New York City owns a proud and powerful tradition of expression through non-violent protest. Demonstrations and free speech are valuable contributions to debate, but violence and disorder are not only wrong — they are counterproductive. > > Frustration is understandable. Centuries of racism precede us. But working together, we can turn from that history and make a profound and lasting change in the culture of law enforcement and bring police and community closer together. > > We’ve already begun to make progress. > > We’ve dramatically reduced the overuse and abuse of stop-and-frisk, initiated a comprehensive plan to retrain the entire NYPD to reduce the use of excessive force and to work with the community, reduced arrests for minor marijuana possession, and given officers body cameras to improve transparency and accountability. > > And we know there is much more to be done. > > Finally, in recent weeks, protesters and activists have adopted a phrase that should never have to be said, but that the stains on our country’s history demand we say: Black Lives Matter. > > When invoking this refrain, we must be mindful that issues surrounding policing and civil rights are not just an issue for people of color, they’re not just a problem for young people, and they’re not just a problem for people who get stopped by police. They’re a problem for all Americans who care about justice. > > As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” > > Together, we must work to make this right, to work for justice, and to build the kind of city and the kind of country we need to be. And we will. > > Thank you, > > Bill de Blasio > Mayor ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/8 "2014-12-20T22:02:38Z")
How would you feel if your boss told the world you needed to be retrained? That your racist attitudes needed to be adjusted? If thats not a slap in the face, I can’t imagine what would be. This is the Mayor speaking. Not some angry demonstrator. These men are facing armed criminals every single day. Thousands of arrests each month. Good police work done by the book. 1 citizen dies and the entire force is condemned? > [@](#): > > Frustration is understandable. Centuries of racism precede us. But working together, we can turn from that history and make a profound and lasting change in the culture of law enforcement and bring police and community closer together. > > We’ve already begun to make progress. > > We’ve dramatically reduced the overuse and abuse of stop-and-frisk, initiated a comprehensive plan to retrain the entire NYPD to reduce the use of excessive force and to work with the community, reduced arrests for minor marijuana possession, and given officers body cameras to improve transparency and accountability. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/9 "2014-12-20T22:14:14Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > How would you feel if your boss told the world you needed to be retrained? Oh for fucks sake. If their excuse for sitting by while the guy suffocated to death due to their negligence is that they were just following their training, then how in the fuck would they be so gravely offended if someone said their training needed to be changed? Are we denying that what happened was a bad outcome and shouldn’t be a typical result from a police encounter? For fucks sake. If we can’t even say their training was bad, WHICH IS A STATEMENT ITSELF WHICH EXCUSES THEIR BEHAVIOR, in case it hurts their felings, can you not see how fucking absurd this blue shield bullshit is, where our main concern when the police slowly murder a guy is that the police don’t get offended by suggesting their flimsy excuse for that matter should be rectified in the future? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/10 "2014-12-20T22:15:13Z")
So we shouldn’t train cops to reduce excessive force because it hurts their feelings? You’re joking, right? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/11 "2014-12-20T22:21:11Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > How would you feel if your boss told the world you needed to be retrained? That your racist attitudes needed to be adjusted? I don’t see an attachment to reality in your statement. If my company wasn’t doing well I’d expect and welcome my boss expressing a desire for all of us to do better in the future. The racist attitude thing is something you have made up. > [@](#): > > If thats not a slap in the face, I can’t imagine what would be. This is the Mayor speaking. Not some angry demonstrator. A slap in the face would be direct criticism of the police department instead of expressing a desire and active effort to improve. > [@](#): > > These men are facing armed criminals every single day. Thousands of arrests each month. Good police work done by the book. 1 citizen dies and the entire force is condemned? Again, where is the condemnation? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/12 "2014-12-20T22:25:00Z")
How many cops are in NY? 25,000? 40,000? I’m not sure. The arrests each month have to be in the tens of thousands for a city the size of NY. 99.99% of those arrests are done professionally with minimum danger to the cop and the citizen. There might be a few hundred cases a year of excessive force. Those need to be investigated. Theres already a mechanism for that. Internal Affairs. Perhaps they need more resources to do their job. More officers, more investigations of excessive force. That’s the solution. To condemn all the good officers for the stupid actions of a few cops is an over reaction. de Blasio brought up race and injustice in his letter. Not me. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/13 "2014-12-20T22:32:00Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > To condemn all the good officers for the stupid actions of a few cops is an over reaction. He didn’t do that. > [@](#): > > de Blasio brought up race and injustice in his letter. Not me. You made the claim that he attributed racist attitudes to the police. Please point that out in the letter. He also pointed out that injustice harms us all. Do you disagree with that? Are you actually advocating for injustice? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/14 "2014-12-20T22:39:03Z")
Are we reading the same letter? The exact words he used were “retrain the entire NYPD to reduce the use of excessive force”. Thats pretty clear that he’s blaming all the officers for the actions of a few bad ones. I quoted the police union’s response in the Washington Post article. They feel betrayed and they used the term thrown under the bus. I simply repeated the thrown under the bus phrase in my OP. de Blasio is off to a horrific start as Mayor. He’s managed to antagonize people on multiple issues. First the horse carriage ban, which thankfully there’s not enough support for. Now he goes after the NYPD. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/15 "2014-12-20T22:45:58Z")
updated story. Both officers died. Ambushed and murdered in their patrol car. ☹☹ ☹ > **[Two NYPD officers ‘assassinated’ while sitting in patrol car in Brooklyn by...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2014/12/21/two-nypd-officers-assassinated-while-sitting-in-patrol-car-in-brooklyn-by-gunman-who-boasted-on-instagram-about-revenge-killing-cops-graphic-images/)** > > Two NYPD cops were executed Saturday after a career criminal drove from Baltimore to Brooklyn to kill police officers in a twisted bid to avenge the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. “… > [@](#): > > Both officers were rushed to Woodhull Hospital where they died. > [@](#): > > Sources said the gunman fatally shot himself on the subway platform. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/16 "2014-12-20T22:47:07Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Are we reading the same letter? The exact words he used were “retrain the entire NYPD to reduce the use of excessive force”. Thats pretty clear that he’s blaming all the officers for the actions of a few bad ones. It’s clear that’s what you think it means. How exactly do you expect the problem officers to be retrained? Should a memo be sent out asking officers who need retraining to step forward? If you don’t like the guy that’s fine, the horse carriage thing makes him sound like a nut bag to me, but I can’t really see anything but an over-the-top biased interpretation from you about a fair and reasonable statement on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/17 "2014-12-20T22:47:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Are we reading the same letter? The exact words he used were “retrain the entire NYPD to reduce the use of excessive force”. Thats pretty clear that he’s blaming all the officers for the actions of a few bad ones. No it’s not. Not one bit. What do you propose, we wait to see which officers use excessive force to determine which ones should be properly trained, or could it just possibly be that the smart thing to do is train the entire force to be sure everyone knows the proper procedures? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/18 "2014-12-20T22:53:58Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Are we reading the same letter? The exact words he used were “retrain the entire NYPD to reduce the use of excessive force”. Thats pretty clear that he’s blaming all the officers for the actions of a few bad ones. How is it blaming anyone to say that they’re going to learn lessons from particular incidents to redesign their training regimes? If an officer got shot, and they learned from this incident to train the police differently in how they responded to potent gunmen by approaching in a way that’s safer for them, would you say he was blaming the cop who died? For fucks sake, we take practical field lessons to refine training all the time, in every field. What’s the alternative? “Our current training regimes will never be altered, for if they are refined or changed in any way, it will make someone feel bad”? Or are you saying that only police that eventually did indeed use excessive force should be singled out so that you can use a time machine and go back and alter only their training? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/19 "2014-12-20T22:54:21Z")
If excessive force is routinely used by the NYPD wouldn’t you expect to see a parade of thousands of beaten up citizens? Brother Al could lead the parade. Pass out all the medical reports detailing the injuries inflicted by the police. But that hasn’t happened because the over whelming majority of cops are doing their jobs correctly. The few bad ones need to be disciplined, retrained or maybe fired. Depends on the circumstances and what the bad cop did. I totally agree the cops were abusive in the Garner case. The men responsible need to be held accountable. But thats what? 5 officers? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771/20 "2014-12-20T22:55:30Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > How would you feel if your boss told the world you needed to be retrained? Slightly annoyed that I’d have to put in some work that’s not billable to clients, as was the case the last time my boss announced publicly that we all needed to be retrained. Was this a serious question? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-ambushed-and-shot-in-brooklyn/707771.md?page=2)