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Cotto vs. Elicker: Perfidy? Or attempted silencing?
Thomas Breen Photo
Protesters marching in New Haven Thursday night.
The police union demanded an apology for allegedly traitorous remarks. The mayor stood his ground against an alleged silencing attempt.
That was some of the local fallout from the decision by a Louisville, Kentucky, grand jury not to indict any of the officers who shot up Breonna Taylor’s apartment and killed her.
Mayor Justin Elicker joined a chorus of New Haveners expressing disappointment and outrage at the decision. Protesters marched peacefully through city streets Thursday night and plan another demonstration Friday evening.
Elicker posted a link on his mayoral Facebook page on Thursday to a New York Times article about the Louisville decision.
“I am shocked to hear that the grand jury didn’t charge any officers for the murder of Breonna Taylor in her Louisville apartment. What happened to Breonna was wrong in so many ways and the officers should be held accountable. It is a tragedy the Taylor family couldn’t realize justice in the courts,” Elicker wrote above the link.
Florencio Cotto, president of the police union, took to social media to brand Elicker as anti-cop and seek a retraction for his “disgraceful” statement that the officers in the Taylor case were not held accountable.
“Mr. Mayor, please apologize to the men and women of the New Haven Police Department. They deserve it. Otherwise, your bias toward the police must be noted so when one of our fine officers is hurt, then they and their family won’t be surprised when you engage in harmful, fake news tweeting,” Cotto wrote.
Here’s Cotto’s full tweet:
@hartfordcourant @ctnewsjunkie @connpost @WTNH @FOX61News @WFSBnews @NBCConnecticut @nhregister @HartfordPDUnion @attorneysegar @NhpdUnion @YankeeInstitute @wnpr pic.twitter.com/VBtCP207wO
— Official New Haven Police Union Page (@NhpdUnion) September 25, 2020
Rather than apologize, Elicker repeated in a Friday response post the he “remains” unconvinced that “justice was served in this case.” “Many national legal experts share this same assessment.”
He proceeded to state that he wasn’t making any reference to New Haven officers. He called Cotto’s linking of his remarks to New Haven police “an attempt to silence the voice of local elected officials in this important and historic national conversation that is happening. Now more than ever, we must stand up and call out injustices, even in the face of adversity.”
Here’s Elicker’s full post:
