Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday that the schizophrenic Bronx woman shot dead by a police sergeant while she was wielding a baseball bat “should never have died.”
Speaking on WNYC radio, the mayor said he wouldn’t second guess the judge who cleared Sgt. Hugh Barry this week and pointed out that the cop is still facing NYPD disciplinary procedures.
“The central point here is we respect the court system,” the mayor said. “But underneath all that, here’s an essential fact: Deborah Danner should not have died. She should still be with us.”
Barry was acquitted on murder and other charges stemming from the October 2016 shooting death of 66-year-old Danner.
He had testified in the non-jury trial that he shot her because he feared for his life.
In the days immediately after the shooting, de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill came under intense criticism from police representatives for what the unions said was a rush to judgment in the case.
Hizzoner called the shooting “tragic” and “unacceptable” at the time, while O’Neill said the NYPD had “failed” Danner.
After the court ruling, sergeant union president Ed Mullins called on both officials to apologize for those early comments.