REMARKS
Police brutality incidents during Giuliani's administration
2:35:05
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176 sec
Council Member Hudson lists several high-profile instances of police brutality against people of color during Giuliani's administration. She emphasizes the impact of aggressive policing policies on communities of color.
- Hudson mentions the deaths of Anthony Baez, Nicholas Hayward, Anthony Rosario, Hilton Vega, and Yong Xin Huang
- She highlights that these incidents occurred under Giuliani's hyperaggressive policing regime
- She asks how someone who is proud of the Giuliani administration's record engender confidence about police accountability.
Crystal Hudson
2:35:05
not gonna give me a direct answer, I'm gonna move on.
2:35:07
Okay?
2:35:07
Let's fast forward a few years.
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Mister Giuliani is elected mayor in November 1993.
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You become his chief of staff and later his deputy mayor of operations.
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You've said publicly that you are proud of the work you did for mayor Giuliani and that one of the reasons you should become Corporation Council is specifically because of that work.
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As chief of staff and then deputy mayor for operations, you were responsible for all of the city's operating agencies, which may have included the NYPD, although you just stated that they reported directly to the mayor.
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You helped mayor Giuliani make crucial decisions related to the operations of the NYPD and its officers.
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You met with the mayor and other top staff in the mornings to plan strategy and make decisions.
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No major decision involving the operations of the NYPD were made without your input.
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As we've already discussed at this hearing, you were so essential to mayor Giuliani's work that some called you the, quote, conscience, end quote, for his administration.
2:36:03
And you can't refer to somebody else's description of you as that without claiming it yourself.
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While you are proud of the Giuliani era, many New Yorkers, especially people of color, do not have the same fond memories of the NYPD under Giuliani.
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The executive director of the ACLU of New York summed up the views of many New Yorkers in a 2001 op ed when she wrote the following quote.
2:36:27
As mayor, Giuliani oversaw a policing regime repeatedly engaged in persecution and brutal assaults and killings of black and Hispanic New Yorkers using unlawful stop and frisk policies to jail black and Hispanic New Yorkers in service of his broken windows policing.
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Every time the NYPD killed a black man Rudy Giuliani was right there, not only defending the police, but attacking the victim, end quote.
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This rise in hyperaggressive policing led to a number of high profile instances of police brutality against people of color and unjust police killings of civilians during the Giuliani administration.
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In 1994, Anthony Baez was choked to death by a police officer after the football he was playing with unintentionally hit an NYPD vehicle.
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That same year, thirteen year old Nicholas Hayward was shot and killed by an NYPD officer in his public housing development in Brooklyn.
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In 1995, NYPD officers fatally shot cousins, Anthony Rosario, and Hilton Vega, and a hail of 28 bullets in the Bronx with most shots fired into their backs.
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That same year, sixteen year old honor student, Young Jin Huang was shot in the head and killed by a police officer in Sheep said Bay, Brooklyn.
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My question for you is, how can someone who is proud to this day of the Giuliani administration's record and who played a pivotal role in its policing policies and practices?
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Truly understand the toll of police violence or engender confidence about police accountability and further admit to wrongdoing by the NYPD in similar cases of police brutality in the future.