Eric Garner fallout: Cops feel "thrown under the bus," union says [View all]

[Blue_Tires]

NEW YORK -- The head of New York City's police union said officers felt "thrown under the bus" by Mayor Bill de Blasio following a Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict an officer in the death of Eric Garner, CBS New York station WCBS-TV reports.

Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the mayor needs to do more to support New York City cops.

"What police officers felt yesterday after that press conference is that they were thrown under the bus," Lynch told reporters Thursday. "That they were out there doing a difficult job in the middle of the night, protecting the rights of those to protest, protecting our sons and daughters and the mayor was behind microphones like this throwing them under the bus."

The mayor said he and his wife, Chirlane, have had to have painful conversations with their teenage son, Dante, about "how to take special care with any encounter he may have with police officers."

"I've had to worry over the years, Chirlane has had to worry: Is Dante safe each night?" de Blasio said Wednesday. "And not just from some of the painful realities of crime and violence in some of our neighborhoods but safe from the very people they want to have faith in as their protectors."

Lynch slammed the mayor's comments, saying "our city is safe because of police officers" and said New Yorkers should be afraid of the criminals, not the police.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eric-garner-case-reaction-from-new-york-city-mayor-riles-police-union/