Mayor Adams ‘Breakfast Club’ interview turns heated over slain NYPD officer: 'The far left' disagrees with me
A discussion on crime in the Big Apple turned heated on Thursday when New York City Mayor Eric Adams was accused of sensationalizing the death of New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Jonathan Diller.
During an appearance on "The Breakfast Club," commentator Olayemi Olurin clashed with Adams on his handling of crime in the city. She said that Adams was a "fearmongerer" on crime and took issue with his public comments about bail reform policies, claiming only a small percentage of those released on bail go on to re-offend.
Things became tense when she mentioned Adams' response to Diller's murder.
"In the same breath that you want to sensationalize, you want to highlight and point out how an officer was killed the other day which is a rare occurrence across the United States but let alone in New York. New York police officers have killed at least seven people this year, including a 19-year-old," she said.
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Adams, growing impatient, said that he would not dismiss the death of an "innocent person that wears a uniform."
"But you do of the 31 people that died at Rikers," Olurin replied.
After some back and forth, Adams said he did not want to take her out of context and did not want people to think that she was being "dismissive" of a "young man being shot and killed."
"Mayor Adams, that's not gonna work on me," Olurin said.
"Listen, I'm not trying to work anything on you. I lost a member of the police department. The same way I go to see a mother of an 11-month-old baby that was shot in the head when I first became mayor and I sat in the hospital with her, the same way I go visit these mothers that lose their children to gun violence, I go see them," Adams said.
He later said that "many people on the far left" disagree with him on crime.
You know, many people on the far left, they say, 'Eric, people should be allowed to sleep on the streets no matter what. They should be allowed to sleep on your stoop and inject themselves with drugs. They should be allowed to go into stores and steal whatever they want'.' Like, people disagree with me all the time."
Diller was fatally shot on Monday during a traffic stop in Queens after a man with 21 prior arrests allegedly shot him in the stomach as Diller was trying to get the suspect, Guy Rivera, 34, to exit the vehicle. Rivera opened fire on Diller and his partner at about 5:45 p.m. Monday. The officers approached the vehicle because it was illegally parked at a bus stop.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Diller was 31 years old and lived in Massapequa Park with his wife and nearly 1-year-old son.
Former President Donald Trump attended his wake on Thursday afternoon.
"Such a sad, sad event. Such a horrible thing. And it's happening all too often and we're just not going to let it happen," Trump said.
"We need law and order," he added.
This is not the first high-profile attack on NYPD officers in recent months.
In January, two NYPD officers were beaten in Times Square by several illegal migrants just steps away from the New Amsterdam theater.
The NYPD arrested Darwin Andres Gomez Izquiel, 19, of Mississippi; Kelvin Servat Arocha, 19, of Brooklyn; Juarez Wilson, 21, of Queens; Yorman Reveron, 24, of Brooklyn and Jhoan Boada, 22 in connection with the crime.
They were all hit with a variety of charges, including assault on a police officer, gang assault, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct.