RNA - Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was “sick” when he heard that a hero NYPD officer was allegedly harassed by a man over the weekend because of her Muslim faith.
With Officer Aml Elsokary sitting by his side, the mayor called the incident “unacceptable” in this city and this nation.
“I was sick to my stomach when I heard that one of our officers was subjected to threats and taunting simply because of her faith,” he said Monday at an NYPD crime statistics news conference. “We can’t allow this.”
Police said Elsokary, who was honored in 2014 for saving a grandmother and her granddaughter from a burning building in Brooklyn, was off-duty Saturday night when she was targeted because of the Muslim head covering she was wearing.
She was dropping her 16-year-old son off at Ridge Boulevard and 67th Street in Bay Ridge and went to park the car. When she returned, authorities said a man was shoving and yelling at Elsokary’s son.
When Elsokary approached, police said the man yelled at her “ISIS (expletive), I will cut your throat, go back to your country!”
“This is Officer Elsokary’s country. She is an American, she is a New Yorker. She is already at home,” de Blasio said Monday. “She serves this city. She is an example of everything we would want from our fellow citizens — a commitment to others, a commitment to service, a willingness to do something greater than herself and what does she get for it? Threats to her life and bigotry, taunts.”
Elsokary said Monday that she became a cop to help all New Yorkers, regardless of their beliefs.
“I’m born and raised here and I’m here to protect you and I know that my department and my city is here to protect me,” she said. “I became a police officer to show the positive side of a New Yorker, Muslim woman that can do the job, that is non-bias, that I can help everybody no matter what’s your religion.”
The accused, 36-year-old Christopher Nelson of Bay Ridge, was arrested on charges including menacing as a hate crime and second-degree aggravated harassment, authorities said. He was arraigned Monday and bail was set at $50,000.
Nelson’s neighbors were shocked by the allegations.
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