Mayor de Blasio on Wednesday defended NYPD cops involved in the Brooklyn fracas in which a baby was torn from his mom’s arms — as the woman cleared the New Jersey warrant that got her locked up.
“By the time the NYPD arrived, this situation was already out of hand and should not have been,” de Blasio said in an unrelated press conference. “That was because of the mistaken actions, in my opinion, of the [Human Resources Administration] peace officers.”
Jazmine Headley got into a spat with HRA guards inside a Boerum Hill benefits center on Friday because, with no chairs available, she and her 1-year-old son were sitting on the floor, her lawyers have said.
When the 23-year-old mom didn’t immediately comply with the guards’ orders that she either stand up or leave, they called the NYPD, whose officers were caught on video wresting Headley’s baby son from her arms.
But while de Blasio reserved judgment on the NYPD pending its internal probe, he went out of his way to rap the HRA’s response. “I do know the norm has been, the thing we believe in, is de-escalation,” he said. “But even without the benefit of that training, common sense tells you ‘Don’t treat a mother with a baby that way. Period.’ ”
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch said cops were able to calm down the situation, only to have loose-cannon HRA officers fan the flames.
“As the police officers de-escalated the situation . . . [Headley] began to leave,” said Lynch. “HRA then reached in and stopped her from leaving. That’s when the escalation happened again, leaving our police officers in a terrible situation to try to protect the baby, calm the woman and place her into custody.”
Two HRA guards are on leave pending an investigation, while no NYPD officers have had their status altered. Greg Floyd, whose Local 237 union represents the city’s HRA guards, fired back — moments after joining de Blasio on the dais at a briefing on a new contract for NYCHA maintenance workers, also repped by the union.
“How can you blame the HRA officers for what happened when they’re not on the video being aggressive?” asked Floyd. “I have not seen anything that my officers did wrong.”
Floyd added de Blasio’s comments were motivated by a reluctance to incur the wrath of the powerful police union. “You fear the PBA,” Floyd said to reporters, referring to de Blasio.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Headley cleared the 2017 New Jersey warrant that kept her locked up on Rikers Island until late Tuesday night.
If Headley pays a $1,000 fine and completes 20 hours of community service as well as a three-year diversionary program, the credit-card fraud case against her will be voided and removed from her record.
As she left court, Headley, tears streaming down her face, simply said, “I’m just happy to be reunited with my son.”
Additional reporting by Ruth Weissmann and Nolan Hicks