A police lieutenant with the New York City Police Department who endured an attack from anti-police protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge last week thanked his fellow officers and others who voiced support for him following his release from the hospital.
“I just want to thank the men and women in blue, for everything,” said Lt. Richard Mack after he was released from New York-Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center for an orbital fracture to an eye. “What we did out there, we would do again in a heartbeat. I bled for this city — I’d do it again tomorrow.”
Mack was one of several officers who suffered severe cuts, broken fingers, and blows to the head during the attack, which was caught on video and widely circulated on social media.
Video taken at the scene shows officers attempting to make an arrest when a man in tan pants, a purple shirt, and a red bandanna over his face climbs over a railing and begins beating officers.
Among the wounded officers was Chief of Department Terence Monahan.
“These are the cops who need your support,” Monahan said in a tweet accompanied by a video of Mack. “They face danger on behalf of all those they serve.”
“Understand what we did out there, we would do again in a heartbeat. I bled for this city — I’d do it again tomorrow.” —Lt. Mack released from the hospital after Brooklyn Bridge assault
These are the cops who need your support. They face danger on behalf of all those they serve. pic.twitter.com/J3aW4C0N73
— Chief Terence Monahan (@NYPDChiefofDept) July 18, 2020
Since the death of George Floyd, sweeping calls for police reform have reverberated across the nation. At the same time, a growing anti-police sentiment has emerged from some activists who say the criminal justice system is systemically racist and needs to be scrapped altogether.
In New York City, where violent crime is on the rise, Mayor Bill de Blasio slashed funding to law enforcement, which department leaders say has further hurt morale.
“This weekend in Brooklyn, we’ll be taking action to stop the violence,” de Blasio said last week of Brooklyn, a borough where crime rates have been especially high in recent weeks.
Mack said at a time of rising tensions between police and citizens, it is important people remember officers who have died in the line of duty.
“The last thing I’d like to ask is remember all the people who died on 9/11. We forget about the heroes. They deserve to be remembered,” Mack said. “Those are the true heroes. I’ll never forget all the sacrifices that you guys did.”
