Ten years ago today, two NYPD officers were shot and killed while sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn .
It was a shocking act of violence that came on the heels of citywide protests over police brutality in the wake of Eric Garner’s death. Garner had been placed in an prohibited chokehold by an NYPD officer who was never charged with a crime.
The 2014 killings of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu as they sat in their patrol car marked a turning point in New York City’s relationship with law enforcement. Law enforcement experts said the tragedy caused police to put new safety measures in place for officers, and public sentiment about criminal justice reform has swung back and forth over time. Families of the men killed said there is more work to do to improve police-community relations.
Police said they felt unsupported by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had expressed empathy for the protesters, and that fury culminated when hundreds of officers literally turned their backs on him — both at the hospital on the day of the officers’ slayings and at one officer’s funeral.