Mayor Eric Adams took aim at a woke criminal defense lawyer who downplayed the murder of Police Officer Jonathan Diller as a “rare occurrence” — and instead focused on cops who have “killed” citizens.
The mayor fired back while talking to anti-cop, “abolitionist thinker” Olayemi Olurin on iHeartMedia’s “The Breakfast Club” Friday morning — after she tried to rip Adams for not caring enough about alleged police brutality.
Adams quickly tried to shut her down.
“I’m not going to dismiss the loss of a life of an innocent person that wears a uniform,” he said.
The confrontation on the show — which is hosted by Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy — began when Olurin labeled Adams a “fearmonger” as she defended the controversial cashless bail law, arguing that most freed defendants aren’t rearrested.
“I’m not talking about bail,” Adams shot back.
“In the same breath that you want to sensationalize, we want to highlight and point out how an officer was killed the other day, which is a rare occurrence across the United States but let alone in New York, New York police officers have killed at least seven people this year, including a 19-year-old,” Olurin said.
She was referring to a 19-year-old man experiencing a “mental crisis” who was shot dead by NYPD cops when he allegedly charged at them with a pair of scissors inside a Queens apartment Wednesday afternoon.
Adams appeared taken aback that Olurin minimized Diller’s death.
“I’m not going to dismiss the loss of a life of an innocent person that wears a uniform,” Adams said.
“But you do the 31 people that died at Rikers,” said Olurin.
There have been three deaths at the Rikers Island jail complex this year and 25 combined in the prior two years.
Adams then suggested that Olurin might want to walk back what could be perceived as an insensitive comment regarding Diller’s fatal shooting during a traffic stop in Queens Monday evening, allegedly at the hands of 34-year-old career criminal Guy Rivera.
“I don’t want to take you out of context and I don’t want people to all of a sudden criticize that you’re being dismissive of a young man being shot and killed,” the mayor said.
But the lawyer doubled down.
What to know about the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller:
Follow The Post’s complete coverage of fallen NYPD Officer Diller’s wake
“Mayor Adams, that’s not gonna work on me,” Olurin said.
“Listen, I’m not trying to work anything on you. I lost a member of the police department. The same way I go to see a mother of an 11-month-old baby that was shot in the head when I first became mayor and I sat in the hospital with her, the same way I go visit these mothers that lose their children to gun violence, I go see them,” Adams responded.
“Now, do you do that?” he asked his critic.
Olurin claimed the mayor doesn’t visit the families of inmates who died at Rikers. As a Legal Aid lawyer, Olurin said, she has represented many defendants who were inmates at the notorious jail.
“You went to visit the family member of a slain officer?” Adams asked.
When Olurin said no, Adams responded, “Of course you didn’t.”
Elsewhere in the tense on-air exchange, Olurin took Adams to task for saying “repeatedly that the subways are dangerous, that New York is dangerous; you complain about crime relentlessly,” she said.
How Post readers can help
You can help Officer Jonathan Diller’s 1-year-old son via the Silver Shield Foundation, which will help fund his future education. Diller, 31, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Queens, leaving behind his wife, Stephanie, and baby Ryan.
The Silver Shield Foundation was launched in 1982 by late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for the families of NYPD officers and FDNY firefighters who lose their lives in the line of duty.
You can make a contribution at silvershieldfoundation.org/donate or send it to: Silver Shield Foundation, 870 UN Plaza, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10017.
The lawyer called on Adams to reconcile his oft-repeated stance that New York City is one of the safest big cities in the country with how Hizzoner’s rhetoric around transit crime has played on people’s fears.
“Is it safe, or is it not?” she demanded.
Charlamagne Tha God backed Olurin, telling Adams that his decision to put an additional 2,000 cops into the subway stations makes New Yorkers “think something’s wrong.”
Adams pushed back, claiming he’s heard from commuters that seeing more uniformed officers in the subways makes them feel safer.
“Now you may say, ‘Eric, I don’t want to see a visible presence of uniformed officers.’ And that’s cool. That’s not what the overwhelming number of New Yorkers are saying,” he said.
The wide-ranging, often contentious discussion also touched on the migrant crisis roiling the city, with Adams defending his administration’s decision to offer asylum seekers prepaid debit cards to buy food as a way to save money for the city, in light of the federal government’s reluctance to provide the necessary funds.
The mayor argued that his hands were tied, given that he does not have the authority to turn away migrants, deny them food and housing, or deport them to their home countries.
“People got a right to be pissed off,” Adams said.
