Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani slammed the death of George Floyd on Fox News as an “outrage,” suggesting that police departments can both prevent incidents like Floyd’s killing and better respond to violent riots by having high-ranking officers present.
“Superior officers should have been on the scene when Mr. Floyd was killed,” Giuliani, whose tenure as NYC mayor from 1994 to 2001 earned him the nickname “America’s Mayor,” told Fox News Saturday night. “It probably wouldn’t have happened.”
Giuliani criticized not only Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed Floyd by kneeling on his neck and is now being charged with third-degree murder, but also the entire Minneapolis police department and the three officers who stood by while Floyd was killed. “It’s the fault of the police that this happened,” he said. “Not just for one officer — that’s a poorly trained police department.”
But Giuliani also cited the same lack of leadership in many cities’ responses to the ensuing riots and looting. Pointing to the presence of law enforcement officers dressed in white uniforms responding to riots in New York City, he explained that “those police officers in white shirts…those are lieutenants, captains and above.”
Those supervising officers are “there to watch the other police officers,” Giuliani added, suggesting that other cities dealing with riots should follow suit. “I’m sorry to get political — cities run by progressives don’t know how to police,” he said. “Thirty cities went up last night, I went and looked at every one of them. Every one of them has a progressive Democratic mayor.”
In Giuliani’s home city of New York, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea noted that thousands of police officers were sent to respond to the riots, and arrested hundreds of protesters. Fox News reported that the riots “destroyed, defaced or broken into” almost two dozen storefronts.
Despite the widespread violence sweeping the city, current NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted last night around 11:30 p.m. that there was “limited protest activity.”
Just checked on Union Square. At this moment, limited protest activity
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 1, 2020
De Blasio’s own daughter Chiara, 25, was arrested the night before in conjunction with the riots.
“This would not have happened when I was mayor of New York City,” Giuliani added. “This is not a protest for Mr. Floyd. This is a desecration of Mr. Floyd’s memory.”
