NEW YORK _ New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was hammered with chants of "Fire Pantaleo" during his opening address at the Democratic debate in Detroit on Wednesday.
The Department of Justice decided July 16 not to prosecute Daniel Pantaleo, who has been on paid leave from the New York Police Department for five years following his involvement in the killing of Eric Garner in Staten Island. A grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo in 2015.
The protesters were Minister Kirsten John Foy, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Musonne Linen and Angelo Pinto, Foy told the New York Daily News.
"When Bill de Blasio was making his opening statements, we collectively, those who came, decided to make a statement of our own," according to Foy.
"We said it. We said it we said it three times. That was the end of our protest."
Several minutes later, police arrived to escort Foy out, and the rest told the police that they were all going or they were all staying. So police escorted them all out.
"And we decided we were going to continue our protest in the midst of the debate," Foy said.
By then, de Blasio has wrapped up his speech and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker had the floor.
"That was when they came to escort us out," according to Foy. "We had already finished with de Blasio."
He said the mayor has failed in his leadership of New York, and failed to keep the NYPD transparent and accountable.
"This mayor has failed to hold Daniel Pantaleo accountable for the killing of Eric Garner, and since he has failed to hold Daniel Pantaleo accountable, we are going to hold him accountable," Foy said.
As for de Blasio's candidacy, Foy said, "I think it's laughable. He's suffering from delusions of grandeur and he thinks too highly of himself."
Mallory, the co-president of the Woman's March Inc., said that when de Blasio was giving his opening statement, talking about New York City being the safest city in America and about ending stop and frisk, their group thought he was being a hypocrite because of the way Garner died and because of broken window policies.
"Bill de Blasio has failed to be a strong leader in the city," she said. "The question of whether or not he should be the president of the United States, we challenge that."
Mallory said the same group attended Tuesday night's debate, but didn't protest.
De Blasio, who is polling around 1% in the race for the Democratic nomination for president, has argued that legally speaking Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill would have to fire the officer. Critics argue that the mayor has not applied adequate pressure on O'Neill.
When Booker spoke at the debate after de Blasio, the chants of "Fire Pantaleo" resumed, causing Booker to pause as the chorus gained momentum.
A tweet from de Blasio's account acknowledged the protesters.
"To the protestors (sic) in the audience today: I heard you. I saw you. I thank you. This is what democracy looks like and no one said it was pretty," he tweeted.
Booker has been critical of the Justice Department's decision not to prosecute Pantaleo, who was one of the officers holding down Garner as he repeated, "I can't breathe!" before losing consciousness and dying.
