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N.Y. Gov. Cuomo should publicly apologize for comments on NYC police, chief says

Cuomo on Tuesday criticized the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio over their handling of looting amid unrest in the city Monday night, saying they "did not do their job."
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The New York Police Department’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Terence Monahan, said Wednesday that he hopes Gov. Andrew Cuomo will publicly apologize after saying that the NYPD failed to do its job.

Cuomo on Tuesday criticized the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio's response to looting in parts of Manhattan and the Bronx on Monday night, saying it was "a disgrace."

“The police in NYC were not effective at doing their job last night," Cuomo said at a news conference. "The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job."

The governor said the city should put its entire police force of over 30,000 officers on the streets to protect property and people.

Terence Monahan, chief of department of the NYPD, told the “TODAY” show on Wednesday that governor’s office called him to apologize Tuesday, and he said the governor also talked directly to New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.

Monahan, though, said, “I hope he would come out publicly and say it again.”

“You have to come out and see what these men and women are doing,” Monahan said. “Don’t ever call them ineffective.”

NBC News was unable on Wednesday morning to immediately reach the governor's office to confirm the conversations with Monahan and Shea.

A statement from Cuomo's office on Tuesday after the press conference said, "The Governor has always said he has respect and confidence in the NYPD and he knows they can handle this situation because he has seen them do it in the past. It's not the men and women of the NYPD — he questions the management and deployment" of the force.

De Blasio on Tuesday responded to the governor's comments, telling 1010 WINS that Cuomo had “dishonored” the NYPD.

Apart from the police force's handling of incidents of looting, the NYPD has come under fire over its response to some demonstrations over George Floyd's death, with videos showing two police SUVs driving into a crowd Saturday and, in another incident, an officer appearing to brandish his gun at protesters.