Just a job to provide for myself and his parents, but a career that he enjoyed and more importantly passionate about it even though he spent a lot of hours working, he was always love for his work. We spoke about the law and how he applied the law. He was objective in his determination of the law with courtesy, we areith respect and with the highest professionism. Although he worked often, he always took time to spend with me his number one fan and his pamly and friends. He was always there when somebody needed something. When wenjian was not working, he
cared a lot for the chinese community. He wanted to always do his best to help and support. The very community that he was part of wenjians kind heart loved by his friend and colleagues and our extended family ha isthat is here today. The caring son, a loving husband and a loyal friend. You are an amazing man even though you left us early, but i believe that he will have his loving spirit to continue to look out for us. He will keep an eye over us. Wenjian is my hero. We can always count on him. Again, i thank you, my extended family my fam ily of blue for attending todays services, thank you. Wen wenjian will always be in my hearts. I love you, i love you forever. [ applause ]
ing breaking news, the ongoing Funeral Service for new York Police Detective wenjian liu and you heard the widow, and the two with were married for four month, and gave what is a remarkably brave eulogy about her slain hudzsband and talking about how she was his soulmate and best friend and only son of immigrant, and very, very dedicated to his parents and mot to mention the people of new york city whom he risked his life and then died trying to protect them. There are thousands of people crowding the streets outside the Brooklyn Funeral Home where this service is under way, and the Police Officers are standing shouldertoshoulder and notably some officers did turn their officers as the new york mayor Bill De Blasio did deliver
a eulogy. Inside the Drekirector Fbi and the Police Commissioner and as i mentioned, officer lius widow and his father. And his father did not speak in english, but you did not have to understand the language to feel his pain. It was really a heartbreaking, heartbreaking event. Liu and his partner rafael ramos were gunned down December 27th when they were gunned down in their squad car, and we will be joined by Miguel Marquez who is outside of the Funeral Services. Miguel can you tell us about the scene there among the thousands of men in blue who came all around the country to at tend this funeral. Reporter for the bulk of the entire ceremony there was a
contingent of asian officers just outside of the church here, and we believe that the coffin of officer liu is coming out soon and nypd officer did come up and ask whether we will be broadcasting live or speaking at that time, and that is something that they want to keep very somber event here to honor this Police Officer as his casket moves towards its final resting place. With the are regard to the Police Officers turning their back here in front of the funeral home there were zero. No Police Officers who turned their back. Just down from here, on the Processional Route where the casket will go there with were some Police Officers who did turn their backs according to our sara ganim who is down tlhere and other producers who saw them but much smaller number than last week, and the Police Commissioner asking by memo to
the police force that it was not an appropriate thing to do. That it is a time for grieving and not grievance and that when they turned their back on the mayor during officer ramos funeral last week they did no valor to the officers sacrifice and honor of his job in doing so. So he has asked them not to do it now. You can see now the Police Officers are lining up now. This is the ceremonial unit of the nypd lining up in order to receive the body the casket of officer liu. We expect to see that coming out of here shortly. It looks like they may be slightly ahead of schedule and though it is a little unclear that the family did arrive an hour before the ceremony began and several speakers to listen to his father speak, and i dont speak cantonese, but to listen to him speaking and trying to
get through the words and emotion, and it was hard to watch that. This was meant to go for another hour and he may be coming out soon. The ceremony they had in there was a lot of individuals bringing food to the location of the casket and also burning pieces of paper or cardboard to symbolize things from the physical word the food and those symbol ss are things that officer liu in the buddhist tradition would take on to the next life. Dana . Miguel i agree with you to watch his father to lose any child is just defy sies the laws of nature, but to lose your only son as he did is just words just cant can express how much grief he must be feeling right now. Thank you very much and stand by us miguel because we want to go to cnn correspondent sarah
again mim who ganim who is outside of the funeral home. Can you hear me . Yes, it is dana bash sarah, and can you hear us . We are having trouble getting her ifp working, and we will go inside of the studio to tom fuentes, and you are a Law Enforcement analyst, but also a cop on the beat where you started outside of chicago for six years. And for those of us who have never served or had the honor of serving, talk about what is it like, and what has drawn thousands of people around the country including towns like chicago for this funeral . Well to understand Police Officers it helps to have been one and having been in the life of a Police Officer. It is not a job but a way of life and not just for you, but the family. It is what has been carried
through for the ramos and liu families they have to live with the life and the fear and the threat, and i know my mother who had passed away now, she had a husband and two sons who were Police Officers at the same time, and she had this worry every day. I cannot imagine. I cannot imagine. The koncontroversy about what these officers faced when it came to racial protests and some of the protests getting personal when it came to the Police Officers after the killings in Ferguson Missouri of black teenagers in new york city. As somebody who has bp on the street and been on the beat what strikes you when you see all of this . What strikes me is that the one message that people dont really realize and the one thing about being a Police Officer is that you realize in the entire
criminal Justice System, and in the entire medical system and the entire Community Leader ss, the Police Officer deals with the victim. The victims die in your arms and the victims die in the ambulance with you in the hospital or in the surgery at the hospital after they have been shot is or stabbed or involved in a terrible accident and it is the police and there is an image that the police have no empathy or sympathy for the members of the public and in the arereality, they have more. The hardened exterior to cope with that is the fact that the police see itt everyday. If the they have animosity, and the the guys carrying the guns in the community, and the gangbangers gunning down other members, it is because they are seeing the the people shot by the gangs, and the people victimized by the crime. Absolutely. So i want to turn back to the scene so that the viewers know what we are look ging at, the
funeral just concluded, and we are watching the sea of blue Police Officers from all over there, and you will see the color guard getting ready, and looks like we are waiting for the casket to come out to take wen wenjian liu to his final resting place. Miguel marquez is there. These funerals are so tough to watch and to see this brotherhood and sisterhood to come together. If you can pan over here, ricky, this is the ceremonial unit Inside Of The Funeral Home. They are now lining up outside of the funeral home and the Co Color Guard with the u. S. Flag the new york citying in ing inand the nypd flag are going to line up in front of the hearse that will take detective liu to his final resting place. The level of mourning and the
sense of the sol Lumemn Nature of what is happening here is unmistakable. What we saw here today is a service that we are not accustomed to and to hear his father speak in cantonese, and even though none of us spoke cantonese, it was very clear and the love of his son was very clear. They did some translation afterwards to talk about how his son would heldp him come work in the Garment District after his school work and he would call him and very conscientious and good son. The mayor talked about detective lius love of fishing. And his cousin spoke about, and we all called him wenjian liu, but his family called him joe. It is how they have become an American Family in their own
way, and now with the ceremonial unit out of the the funeral home it seems that they are now waiting for the mayor of the other dignitaries and the other director to come out, and then we believe we will see the casket of Wenji Aan Liu come out of the funeral home to make its way. And what miguel is talking about is so true in that what you heard in the eulogies and throughout the service is that people were humanizing him, and he was not a number or a cop on the beat that was killed, but a human being with a family who loved him so much but another thing is what truely american story this is. And so classic new york. And so specific new york you have the son of immigrants coming in and really wanting to be a Good American as they called him joe, and looking at
the line of work that he chose. And for many of the immigrant families especially when a son or daughter says that i want to be a Police Officer, the families coming in from other countries, they say, you cant be a Police Aufofficer in the United States, and this is the wild west and the rest of america looks at us with our 300 million gun s ins in a population of 320 million looks at us as violence and Out Of Control and the violence on the streets and the wild west atmosphere and so in some ways when they hear that their Family Members want to be a Police Officer, they rare terrified, and that is probably why he had to call his dad after every shift to say he is still alive he made him. And i would want my son to call me after his shift everyday too, so i understand. And we have a sea of oblue and police men from all over the country to attend the funeral, and sara can you tell us what you are seeing . Yes, dana this is the procession route, and i have stepped away from the route to be respectful not to disrupt the officers who are lined up to watch the ceremony, but they have lined up here and listened to every single speaker, and Tens Of Thousands is of officers are here to pay their respects. It is not the brightest or the warmest or the driest of days here in brooklyn but they did not come out in any less numbers as they did last week for officer ramos funeral. You heard are from wenjian lius father who spoke in mandarin and he said that he was so proud of his son to be a member of the nypd and to help the Immigrant Community when he was not working. And we heard a couple of notable
things prfrom the fbi director james comey and new york mayor Bill De Blasio and we wondered if there would be an honor of the commissioner to not turn their back on the mayor as he spoke, and we did see some officers turn around and not a majority and not even half of the officers where we were standing, but some. And more than the nypd and some officers who were from out of town who also turned around for the speech. This tepgs between the nypd and the mayor have been growing since the protest in new york, but many of the officers i have spoken to here from nypd and out of town say they dont believe that the funeral for a fallen officer is a place for that. And to give you the idea of how many officers are here this is a sea of blue for nearly a mile and this is how long the route
is for those who want to pay their respects. Jetblue flew in more than 1,100 officers from all over the country for free. I have seen badges and vehicles from cincinnati and virginia and connecticut and california and it is a long way to come. I have talked to three officers who came from outside of new orleans and they said it was incredibly important for them to be here for this, and not to show support for the fallen officer, but also because they feel that they do still get the re respect and earn the respect of the majority of the nation, and they wanted to show that to the world by coming here to this funeral, and just another note dana about security here because it is not just Police Officers, but it is a lot of the communities here in the streets, and we are seeing the patrols on the roofs, and canine units and helicopters and many of the units are blocked off on the
procession route where the casket is going to be driven down to the cemetery. It is not the only roadblocked off here. They are making sure that it is a safe place for them to hold this ceremony and to hold a proper funeral for one of their fallen. Dana. Thank you and great the information and color there. I should mention that as you were speaking sara we saw some of the congressional delegation exiting the funeral home there. Is another one, peter king, the republican from new york coming out, and some other well known republicans, Charlie Rangel and congressman joe crowley who was on the show earlier today whose father and grandfather who were both new york city Police Officers and so we are watching the dignitaries come out, and that probably means not too far behind will be the casket of the slain officer, and while we are watching that i want to turn back to tom fuentes. And you heard sara talking about despite the commissioner bill bratton asking the Rank And File not the turn their backs, some did. She reported very important to note that it was not the number that it was at rafael ramos funeral, but it happen ded nonetheless from a treatise from their leader because it detracts from the respects of their fallen comrade. And tom, what do you make of that as a former officer . I think they should not have done it in my opinion, it is not the time or place as mentioned by Commissioner Bratton. And i thought that Commissioner Brattons request to not do it and he said that he would not discipline any officers and no repercussions that way, and he requested it as a fellow officer, and he was a fellow officer in the 1970s when we were pigs and spit on and he
thought that Police Officers out there out of respect for him, and despite the feelings for the mayor which are neg thetive and deep, but out of respect for him, they might honor that respect. And let me play The Devils Advocate they defect the Freedom Of Speech everyday and why shouldnt they have their Freedom Of Speech . Why shouldnt they display their ainge anger if they are angry . They should, but by doing it today, they are talking about that instead of the great life of officer ramos, and their parents, and the other great officers in the world, and talk act this issue and that is the reason enough not to do it. I get that. And the big picture, and the years you were a cop . Yes, in illinois, and 1970 to 1973 when i became a member of the fbi. And racial issues have
changed since then, and society has changed since then but is this something that the police force focus odd n . Absolutely. The idea that when people say we need Community Policing. They have had Community Policing. My father was a Police Officer and it was a kid going with him to Community Events and chaperoning field trips and dances and all of that and i was 1 years old when he was a Police Officer, and the idea that the police need to get into the community and work them, and when you talk about what officer liu and ramos did in their communities tashgs i are a part of that as well as thousands of nypd officers engaged everyday in their community and in the neighborhoods talking to the people trying to help in the policing that they are doing. I the think that is part of what the police are upset about with the public rhetoric that they have not done Community Policing or they need training because they dont know how to talk to people. Police aufofficers have a phd in
street psychology and if they dont talk to somebody properly it is because they dont wan