The head of the NYPD’s largest union blasted Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. on Tuesday for not prosecuting the hostile homeless men who had to be fought off by a lone cop inside a subway station.
“The district attorney’s job is to prosecute crimes, not to act like a social advocate,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said in a statement.
“These men chose to drink to excess and then to attack a police officer like a pack of jackals when given a lawful order to move on.
They should be held accountable for their actions.”
A disturbing video posted online shows the unidentified cop using a collapsible baton to defend himself from several drunken men at the East Broadway station around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
The men refused repeated orders to “stand back” as the cop retreated alongside a staircase on the platform.
“There is no telling how much damage these mopes would have done to that courageous police officer had he not been equipped to handle them,” Lynch said.
“Had it gone the other way, we might have had a seriously injured or dead police officer instead. It’s wrong that they were not charged for attacking him.”
The cop called for backup after one of the men tumbled onto the tracks, the NYPD has said, and five men were taken for hospital treatment.
No charges were filed immediately following the incident, but cops arrested five suspects they caught sleeping on the platform Monday morning in violation of city law.
But prosecutors declined to press any charges later that day when the men were hauled into Manhattan Criminal Court.
“When people are arrested for attacking officers, we prosecute them,” Vance spokesman Danny Frost said. “These men were not arrested for attacking an officer. They were arrested for sleeping on the floor of a subway station — a rules violation, not a crime.
“We have not prosecuted this violation since March 2016 under a policy jointly established with the police commissioner and mayor.”
Riders at the East Broadway F-train station said aggressive, drunken vagrants are frequently a problem there.
“You feel scared because you don’t know what their intentions are,” said Jackie Hurd, 45, a retired sanitation worker.
“The other day I was going to see ‘Mary Poppins’ and a guy started kissing at me. I started yelling at him and he just laughed.”
Local resident Marvin James said he was surprised the cop in the video “didn’t pull a gun.”
“It was four or five guys. I guess he was feeling the Christmas spirit. He stood his ground and no one got hurt. It was a wonderful thing,” he added.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg