Days after a banner reading “DE BLASIO OUR BACKS HAVE TURNED TO YOU,” ran across NYC, a second banner criticizing the mayor appeared on Wednesday afternoon. The banner read, “DE BLASIO, APOLOGIZE TO THE NYPD!!”
The banner was paid for by Michael Sheehan, reports the New York Daily News, a “retired Westchester County Correction officer and the son of an NYPD detective.” He is angry with Mayor Bill de Blasio for forming allies with “race baiter and proven liar Mr. Alfred Sharpton.”
In the past few weeks, de Blasio has supported the largely peaceful protests against police brutality, a move which offended the NYPD. Tensions worsened when two cops were ambushed and killed by an unstable man on December 20, and some blamed De Blasio for so-called anti-police sentiment. Since then, NYPD activity has slowed dramatically, and cops literally turned their backs on de Blasio at the funeral for one of the slain officers. De Blasio on Tuesday met with police union reps to foster dialogue between the two groups, though predictably, it was tense.
The banner flew for 90 minutes at 2 PM on New Year’s Eve, hours before the city is expected to erupt with celebrations — and more protests.
“It will be hard for me to say how many people will see it,” said Ashley Chalmers of Jersey Shore Aerial Advertising, before she flew the banner. “It’ll be seen all over Staten Island, on the Verrazano, and on Brooklyn and Manhattan.”
(Photo: Karen Christensen)
