Eric Adams praises law enforcement for safety at J’Ouvert and West Indian Day Parade
New York City’s typically violence-plagued J’Ouvert festival and West Indian Day Parade went off without a hitch over the weekend for the first time in recent memory, officials said Tuesday.
NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey said, “It’s been a while” since the annual Labor Day events in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, haven’t been marred by shootings, including several that ended in deaths.
Mayor Eric Adams credited the efforts of law enforcement officials and members of his administration’s civilian “Crisis Management Team” who spent four days in the area ahead of time.
“We used the full scope of every agency and their capabilities,” Adams said during a news conference at NYPD headquarters in Lower Manhattan.
“And because of that, you saw a celebration without that traditional violence that was attached.”
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said cops may have prevented a shooting when they busted an unidentified man who “was coming into that area with a firearm.”
“He was quickly apprehended, and that firearm was seized,” she said.
NYPD Assistant Chief Michael Kemper, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, later said the suspect was nabbed at Flatbush Avenue and Grand Army around 11 a.m. Monday.
The man apparently slipped through a gap in security between the end of J’Ouvert and the start of the parade, Kemper said.
His arrest came after he was stopped for riding a dirt bike without a license plate and while not wearing a helmet, a law enforcement official told The Post.
Past event-related incidents include the 2015 slaying of lawyer Carey Gabay, an aide to then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was caught in the crossfire during a shootout between rival gangs during the pre-dawn J’Ouvert celebration.
Sewell didn’t answer directly when asked by The Post why the gatherings have been so violent when compared to other ethnic festivals held in the Big Apple.
“So, we look at all events. Without focusing on this one, obviously, we’ve talked about the events in the past, and this has been plagued by violence in the past,” she said.
“But we look at events across this entire city, and when we recognize the fact that this event has been plagued by violence in the past, we have to put the resources there. But make no mistake about it, we do an analysis of all events before we put a plan together.”
