NYPD cops — angry that a sergeant has been charged with murder for fatally shooting a bat-wielding Bronx woman — are circulating an image of a department firing-range target with Police Commissioner James O’Neill’s face superimposed on it, The Post has learned.
The firing-range image is supposed to be a nondescript drawing of a man holding a bat.
The doctored image started circulating among rank-and-file cops after Sgt. Hugh Barry was charged Wednesday with murder in the October killing of 66-year-old schizophrenic Deborah Danner.
Barry admittedly shot Danner inside her Castle Hill apartment after she threatened responding officers, first with scissors, and then a bat.
The morning after the shooting, O’Neill declared, “We failed” in regards to the incident, sparking mounting backlash within the department.
“This is what the guys feel about ‘a cop’s cop,’” a police source said, referring to the commissioner. “[O’Neill] wasted no time in throwing Barry under the bus.”
NYPD officials were not amused.
“It’s unfortunate some people have to resort to unprofessional and inappropriate behavior,” Assistant Commissioner Peter Donald said.
Ed Mullins, head of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, on Wednesday said O’Neill’s “reaction triggered the mayor to go on a 48-hour tirade, ultimately, I believe, impacting the jury pool here in the Bronx.”
Mullins has said the police firing-range target — which shows five male figures, including one armed with a bat — proves that Barry’s actions were justified.
“There’s no doubt he was following what any New York City police officer would have done [given] deadly physical force with a baseball bat. We’ve seen it. It’s taught in our training. He responded as he is required to do,” Mullins said Wednesday.