After Snub, de Blasio Pays Respects to Cop’s Family as Relations With NYPD Worsen

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio paid a visit to the family and loved ones of slain officer Rafael Ramos on Monday, two days after he and his partner were gunned down in an ambush attack, The New York Post reported.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said as he, his wife Chirlane McCray and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton visited with relatives on the front porch of the family’s Brooklyn home. They were inside the home for about 30 minutes, according to The Post.

Relations had been growing strained between de Blasio and the NYPD, after the New York mayor quietly left a prayer gathering on Sunday and disappeared, never showing up to pay his respect to the families of the police officers shot and killed in an ambush on Shabbos.

John Rodriguez, who serves as president of the 75th Precinct Community Council, called out de Blasio for his conduct and said he should do more. “Come out here and show this family some respect – that’s what [de Blasio] should do,” The New York Post reported.

Neither de Blasio, his wife or Bratton spoke publicly after Monday’s visit.

On Sunday, de Blasio prayed alongside his wife and Bratton, taking communion and receiving a blessing from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, he left after the 10:15 a.m. service and was not seen later in the day, even as Bratton visited the scene of the attack in Brooklyn and as Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent an hour with the family of one officer, Rafael Ramos, at his home.

The mayor “probably needs an intermediary to go between himself and the unions, maybe a religious leader,” said former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in an interview. Read more here.

{Andy Heller-Matzav.com Newscenter}