NYPD Lieutenant Apologizes To Fellow Officers For Kneeling Alongside George Floyd Protesters
In a June 3 email obtained by The New York Post Thursday, Lt. Robert Cattani of the Midtown South Precinct apologized for kneeling alongside George Floyd protesters late last month, telling his fellow officers that “the cop in me wants to kick my own ass.”
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Cattani said he regrets his “horrible decision to give into a crowd of protesters’ demands” and kneel while on duty at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, with several other cops.
“The conditions prior to the decision to take a knee were very difficult as we were put center stage with the entire crowd chanting,” Cattani wrote, according to The Post. He reportedly went on to say, “I know I made the wrong decision. We didn’t know how the protesters would have reacted if we didn’t and were attempting to reduce any extra violence.”
While explaining exactly why he took a knee, Cattani said, “I thought maybe that one protester/rioters who saw it would later think twice about fighting or hurting a cop,” Cattani wrote. “I was wrong. At least that [sic] what I told myself when we made that bad decision. I know that it was wrong and something I will be shamed and humiliated about for the rest of my life.”
Cattani did mention that the officer who killed George Floyd was wrong but said that other officers shouldn’t take the blame for Derek Chauvin’s mistake.
“We all know that a–hole in Minneapolis was wrong. Yet we don’t concede [sic] for other officers’ mistakes,” he added. “I do not place blame on anyone other than myself for not standing my ground.”
Before concluding his lengthy email, Cattani said his decision to kneel “goes against every principle and value I stand for,” and now feels bad putting on his uniform.
“I spent the first part of my career thriving to build a reputation of a good cop,” he said. “I threw that all in the garbage [on] Sunday.”
“I could not imagine the idea of ever coming back to work and putting on the uniform I so wrongly shamed,” he wrote. “However, I decided that was the easy way out for me and I will continue to come to work every day being there for my personnel.”