Rep. Pete King (R-NY) railed against President Obama and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday, suggesting that recent encouragement of peaceful protest led to the shooting of two police officers in Brooklyn on Saturday.
The man who killed the two officers on Saturday as that sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn reportedly posted messages on social media before the killings indicating he was angry about the case of Eric Garner.
Garner was an unarmed black Staten Island man who died in July after a white police officer placed him in a chokehold.
Appearing Monday on Fox News, King criticized statements Obama and de Blasio made about the Garner case before Saturday’s killings.
“Whatever was right or wrong about Staten Island, it was wrong for the mayor and the President to imply that somehow this involved race, that this was part of some endemic racism in the police department and society,” King said.
He also said it was time for Obama and de Blasio to begin praising police.
“It’s important for the President and the mayor, if they are serious about healing what they believe is this rift — or this feud, if you will, this chasm — in race relations, for them to come out and start giving praise to the police” the congressman said on Fox News.
“Say that the police have done more to save minority lives than anyone in this country,” he added.
King blamed de Blasio in particular for attempting to “demonize the police” and creating “a chasm between the police and the African-American community, the minority community, if you will.”
The congressman joined other conservative commentators in focusing criticism on sympathy for protestors after the officers were killed.
“The climate the mayor is creating, it’s not intentional on his part, but the reality is it’s there and this climate is attracting the madmen in society and giving a legitimacy to violent protesters,” King said.
“Cops have to go in and lock people up in a community, lock people up in a household,” he said. “It’s very ugly to look at. But they do it, and they do it well, and we should thank God for them every day.”
