A trio of plainclothes cops who showed up at a Brooklyn hospital seeking care felt disrespected by staff there, leading to NYPD leadership registering their unhappiness over how they were treated, the Daily News has learned.
The narcotics detectives came to NYU Langone Health-Cobble Hill in Brooklyn to be checked out after a suspect they apprehended spat blood on them, police sources said.
Exactly what transpired between the cops and hospital staff remains unclear.
“The members of the NYPD put their lives on the line to protect this city, and the very least they deserve in return is attentive medical care and to be treated with respect,” an NYPD spokesman said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch “is in direct contact with NYU Langone on this matter,” he added.
NYU Langone put out a statement of its own Wednesday.
“No one was denied care,” a spokesperson for NYU Langone Health said. “We provided care to the injured officer, who was asked to temporarily secure his weapon, as per our policy. The other two officers were allowed to keep their weapons. NYU Langone always values the opportunity to provide care to members of law enforcement.”
Two of the detectives sought treatment but staffers at the emergency room said hospital policy required them to first get rid of their guns, an NYPD source said.
As they were being treated, at least one of the detectives overheard a nurse “worry that they might be ICE agents” because they were in plainclothes, one source said.
A second NYPD source said that the officers were “treated very poorly and disrespectfully.”
The suspect the detectives arrested was treated at Brookdale University Hospital, officials said.
Aggressive crackdowns in New York and other Democratic-led cities by ICE agents, some dressed in plainclothes and masks, have sparked protests nationwide.
In New York, ICE operations have drawn heated protests, including along Canal St. in lower Manhattan in October, when agents, in a surprise raid, swooped in to target illegal street vendors.
A similar operation was planned in late November but protesters learned where the ICE agents were beforehand and blocked the exit to their garage with a human barricade, leading to several arrests.
Distrust over ICE agents grew earlier this month in the aftermath of Renee Good being sho to death by an ICE agent in Minneapolisduring a clash over her vehicle partially blocking a roadway.
Because of New York’s sanctuary city laws, the NYPD is barred from helping the feds with civil immigration enforcement, but cops can be called in if a crime or violation is being committed, such as protesters blocking sidewalks or stopping traffic.
Mayor Mamdani said Tuesday he supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the agency escalates its immigration crackdowns across the country.
Mamdani, who’s long been a critic of the agency, told the hosts of ABC’s “The View” that ICE is “terrorizing people.”
“I’m tired of waking up every day and seeing a new image of someone being dragged out of a car, dragged out of their home, dragged out of their life,” the mayor said. “What we need to see is humanity, and there is a way to care about immigration in this city and in this country with a sense of humanity.”
