Zohran Mamdani Outpaced the Field in Mayoral Candidate Response to NYPD’s Sutter Avenue Mass Subway Shooting (original) (raw)
On Sep. 15, NYPD officers patrolling the Sutter Avenue L train stop pursued a fare evasion suspect before shooting him on a subway platform. The hail of bullets seriously injured the suspect, 37-year-old Darell Mickles, and three others including another cop and a 26-year-old woman, both who are in stable condition, according to the police department. Gregory Depleche, 49, who was also shot, was on the way to his job at the hospital where he worked for 20 years, according to the Daily News; he was pronounced brain dead on Wednesday.
This incident presents a Rorschach test on how people feel about law enforcement. The “NYPD-can-do-no-wrong” crowd argues the whole situation could have been avoided if Mickles had simply paid his fare. On Friday evening, the NYPD released edited video footage of two police officers firing six shots each at a stationary Mickles.
Mamdani is likely to enter the mayoral race this fall with the support of New York City DSA, his political home.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, a mass shooting is when four or more people are shot. For many New Yorkers, knowing that the NYPD carried out a mass shooting in the presence of subway commuters is jarring, even by the usual standards of their trigger-happy police force.
So, how should an aspiring mayor navigate these competing claims? Do you show unconditional support for the police? Do you act like nothing happened? Do you express disapproval without directly criticizing the NYPD? Or do you speak out boldly and lay the blame on an out-of-control police department?
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams rushed to the hospital to visit the police officer who was wounded by his colleague but has not visited the two innocent bystanders who were also injured by police gunfire. In his tweet, Adams turned logic on its head and blamed one of the victims of the shooting and lauded the police officers who caused the carnage.
“We have arrested the suspect who put so many lives in danger,” Adams commented. “I cannot thank these officers enough for their bravery.”
Three other mayoral contenders — New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, former Comptroller Scott Stringer and State Senator Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) — have remained silent.
A fourth candidate, State Senator Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), has tweeted twice about the shooting. On Sunday, she delivered a tepid first [tweet](http://Gun violence is a scourge on our neighborhoods. Holding this officer, victims and community in Brownsville in my prayers. Every New Yorker deserves safety.), lamenting that “gun violence is a scourge on our neighborhoods,” promising to hold the wounded officer, other victims and the Brownsville community in her prayers.
On Tuesday, Ramos commented again, writing a more pointed tweet that criticized the police for opening fire over a $2.90 subway fare — without tying their actions to a larger institutional failure.
In the end, one likely candidate, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens) showed why he could generate a lot of enthusiasm on the left. The socialist legislator commented not only on the absurdity of the Sutter Avenue subway shooting, but on the culture of impunity within the NYPD, which has only grown worse under Mayor Adams.
A New York City mayoral election won’t be determined on twitter. However, the responses (or lack thereof) of the candidates offer a preview of the kinds of campaigns they will run over the next nine months.
Adams will unabashedly defend the corrupt and broken status quo he has presided over for nearly three years.
Lander, Stringer and Myrie, it appears, will go out of their way to not anger the NYPD or its powerful unions, lest they be tarnished as “anti-police” or “soft on crime.”
Ramos, whose strong suit is her record on economic-justice issues and immigrant rights, will try to balance the concerns of progressives about the NYPD without antagonizing voters who might welcome her bread-and-butter appeals but also tend to hold positive views about the police.
In his comments, Mamdani tied the reckless actions of the Sutter Avenue cops to a systemic problem with the police force. Seen from that perspective, the problem is no longer individual officers who need better training, but an institution that has shed any sense of accountability to the public it ostensibly serves.
If Mamdani enters the race, he won’t have much institutional support outside of the New York City DSA, his political home. He will be free to continue clearly and boldly on any number of issues, compared to the more cautious, move-to-the-center approach of his opponents. It will be refreshing for voters who want an anti-establishment candidate.
And with New York City’s ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to rank their top five preferences, New Yorkers who find they agree with Mamdani’s socialist message won’t have to worry about casting a spoiler vote.