Powerful Photos Show Thousands Of Officers Attending Slain NYPD Cop's Funeral
Thousands of officers swarmed the streets to honor Officer Rafael Ramos, a 40-year-old father of two, who was killed alongside his partner, Wenjian Liu, while sitting in their patrol car the previous Saturday. Police identified the killer as Ismaaiyl Brinsley and said he had targeted the officers as revenge for the controversial deaths of unarmed black men during arrests in Staten Island, New York, and Ferguson, Missouri.
"Every time I attend a cop's funeral, I pray that it will be the last," NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said at the funeral, according to his prepared remarks. "But I know it won't. As I watch the casket carried past all those salutes, I wish it weren't real. But it is."
According to The New York Times, services for Liu have been delayed so families members can make arrangements to travel from China.
View photos from Saturday's event below.
The sun rises as an NYPD officer walks toward Christ Tabernacle Church, where the services were held.
Motorcycle officers lead the funeral procession.
Police officers bow their heads.
Officers hold their hands in prayer.
Mourners stand at a barricade near Christ Tabernacle Church.
Thousands of police officers and others stand at attention as the hearse passes by.
Thousands salute during the National Anthem.
Upset with Mayor Bill de Blasio's controversial remarks about the Eric Garner case, police turned their back on de Blasio's eulogy for Ramos.
Thousands of police officers stand at attention as a procession carrying Ramos passes by after his funeral.
