Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted police officers across New York on Friday for using "frightening" violence against peaceful protesters and reporters while distancing himself from Mayor Bill de Blasio's decision to put the city on a weeklong curfew amid mass demonstrations over George Floyd's death.
Cuomo started his daily briefing in Albany by playing a couple of videos of the violence _ one of NYPD officers using pepper spray against protesters with their hands up and another of riot cops in Buffalo pushing a 75-year-old man so hard in the chest that he tumbled backward and slammed the back of his head against the pavement.
"It's just fundamentally offensive, and frightening. It's just frightening," Cuomo said. "Who are we? How did we get to this place? Incidents of pushing the press ... Where are we? Who are we?"
The governor took particular issue with the Buffalo incident and said the cops involved should be held accountable.
"When I saw that video I got sick to my stomach," Cuomo said. "I think the city should pursuing firing, and I think the district attorney should look at the situation for possible criminal charges."
Cuomo's pushback contrasted his comments a day earlier, when he disputed whether city cops had been violent at all and suggested it was "a little offensive" for a reporter to ask him for comment on a video of NYPD officers bludgeoning peaceful protesters with batons.
Taking a sharply different approach Friday, Cuomo disassociated himself from de Blasio's decision to extend the citywide curfew through Sunday and make it 8 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. after protests devolved into looting and violence _ an order critics say has exacerbated the police violence.
"I announced the curfew with Mayor de Blasio in New York City after a night of looting and craziness at 11. The mayor then revised the curfew to 8 and extended it, which I had nothing to do with," Cuomo said.
Still, Cuomo refrained from throwing de Blasio all the way under the bus over the curfew kerfuffle.
"They are on the ground. They're working with their local police department. If they believe a curfew is necessary, I support their decisions," Cuomo said.
The governor's change of tone on police violence came after another night of demonstrations in the Big Apple ended in hundreds of arrests of protesters who bucked the 8 p.m. curfew to voice outrage over Floyd's death at the hand of a white Minneapolis cop.
Videos showed NYPD officers in riot gear battering protesters _ and even some reporters _ with batons.
De Blasio, who has promised that journalists and peaceful protesters won't be subjected to violence, defended the NYPD on Friday despite the Thursday night commotion and came out against slashing the Police Department's budget, as proposed by some progressive lawmakers in the city.
"I don't believe it is a good idea to reduce the budget of the agency that is here to keep us safe," de Blasio said at a briefing from City Hall. "Why did we add 2,000 more officers on patrol? Because the New York City Council made it the priority that year with its budget, including a lot of the members who are there right now."
