Report: Wounded officer irked by NYC mayor's hospital visit
One of the two police officers wounded in a shooting in New York City Monday night was not pleased that Mayor Bill de Blasio visited him in the hospital, the officer's father told the New York Post on Tuesday.
The shooting, which took place about two weeks after the ambush that killed two NYPD officers in Brooklyn, came the same day that the mayor and police commissioner acknowledged simmering tensions with police unions.
De Blasio went to St. Barnabas Hospital late Monday night to visit the wounded officers, identified by the Post as 30-year-old Andrew Dossi and 38-year-old Aliro Pellarano.
Dossi's father, Joseph, told the Post that his son "wasn't too happy about the mayor's visit."
"He deals with some crappy people every day and getting no support (from the mayor), come on," Jospeh Dossi told the Post. "These are the guys in the trenches dealing with anything and everything."
Both Dossi and Pellarano were listed in stable condition.
"They went above and beyond the call to protect their fellow New Yorkers," De Blasio said at a news conference early Tuesday. "Thank God the officers are doing well and will recover."
On Monday, de Blasio said that the police officers who turned their back during the funerals of two slain police officers were "disrespectful to the families who lost loved ones" as well as to the people of New York City who hold the police force in high regard.
Speaking alongside the mayor, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton again conceded that morale in the department was "not where we'd like it to be." He listed numerous issues that have caused a rift, including contracts, retirement plans and indemnification issues.