Gov. Cuomo questions mayor, NYPD training after water dousing

Gov. Andrew Cuomo scolded Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD in the wake of the series of incidents

August 06, 2019 04:40 PM

By Joseph Ostapiuk
Staten Island Advance, N.Y.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo scolded Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD in the wake of a series of incidents where NYPD officers were doused with buckets of water, according to a report by the New York Post.

“There was an incident in New York City where police officers were doused with water and the police officers walked away and got back in the car. That is wholly unacceptable,” Cuomo said on WAMC’s “The Roundtable” radio show.

“Walking away was one of the most disturbing and embarrassing actions I’ve seen, I don’t blame those officers, I believe they were relatively new,” Cuomo said, adding that he questions the training of new NYPD officers.

[Read: Why civilians need to understand that the NYPD water attacks are thinly veiled attacks on law and order]

“The training has to be you don’t turn around and get back in the car and drive away. You literally make law enforcement ineffective and impotent and that hurts everyone. You’re assaulted, you take the perpetrator into custody, that’s what you do,” Cuomo said, according to the report.

Police initially said that they were probing the incidents, and at least one arrest was later announced.