A Westchester attorney who represents PBA’s has written an Op-Ed that points the finger at comments made by New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson and Congressmember Jamaal Bowman, based on their own words concerning the death of Kamal Flowers by New Rochelle Police Officer Alec McKenna.
Quinn, from The Quinn Law Firm in White Plains writes, “This may be the most painful morning that I can recall in my time of service and one of the most painful that I can recall in my life”: New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson on June 6, 2020, the morning after the shooting death of convicted felon Kamal Flowers and before any investigation was begun.
“I’m so upset about another horrific incident in our community. We are going through so much already. There needs to be an immediate state investigation into this police killing of a Black man, Kamal Flowers, in New Rochelle”: Candidate Jamaal Bowman on June 6, 2020, also before any investigation into the shooting of Kamal Flowers was conducted.
These were the words of our local elected leaders on the morning after Police Officer Alec McKenna came within a trigger pull of losing his life trying to keep illegal guns off the streets of New Rochelle. If Flowers succeeded in killing Officer McKenna, these same politicians would have been tripping over themselves to get in front of a camera to call him a “hero” who bravely died in the service of the city.
On June 5, 2020, Officer McKenna chased Flowers – a convicted violent felon in possession of an illegal weapon – placing himself at extraordinary risk of death with every step. During the pursuit, Flowers – a parolee released from a lengthy prison stint three months earlier for a gunpoint carjacking – pulled his gun from his waist band and, as his later actions show, would have tried to shoot Officer McKenna with it. Instead, he dropped it to the ground. Rather than shoot, Officer McKenna deployed his taser, with no effect. Flowers grabbed the illegal gun and pointed it directly at Officer McKenna for a second time and fired: later tests confirmed Flowers’ his DNA on the trigger. By the Grace of God, the bullet did not discharge and Officer McKenna was spared. Undeterred, Flowers adjusted the cartridge of the weapon and again pointed it directly at Officer McKenna, who was shouting at Flowers “don’t do it”. Left with no choice, Officer McKenna fired, killing Flowers and saving his own life. Notably, he also took an illegal gun off the streets of New Rochelle: a gun that could have resulted in many more senseless, tragic deaths, like the one that happened recently in New Rochelle’s West End.
At a press conference attended by virtually every local elected official in New Rochelle, Mayor Bramson labeled the morning of Flowers’ death “one of the most painful that I can recall in my life”. Mayor Bramson never once mentioned the extraordinary risk Officer McKenna faced to rid his city of the scourge of illegal guns. No elected leader commended Officer McKenna for the exceptional restraint and bravery he displayed, firing his weapon only after Flowers made it clear that he was intent on carrying out his plan of escaping at any cost – including taking the life of a uniformed police officer. To this day, neither Mayor Bramson nor Congressman Bowman has ever acknowledged that Flowers’ illegal 9 mm semi-automatic handgun was recovered at the scene along with several 9mm bullets recovered in his pocket.
We mourn the death of two New York City police officers killed by gunfire last month, once again rightly lauding each of them as a “hero”. Yet to this day, not a single elected official in Westchester County has acknowledged Officer McKenna for the bravery he displayed in getting yet another urban weapon of war off the streets. To this day, not one local leader has thanked Officer McKenna for removing another gun from our community. Nor has a single New Rochelle official expressed relief or gratitude that Officer McKenna did not die in the process, though he very nearly did.
Instead, following the horrific shooting death of a 17-year old in New Rochelle, our local elected officials have expressed outrage over the proliferation of guns in Westchester – guns that become available to teenagers who use them to shoot and kill each other. Not surprisingly, news reports indicate that the New Rochelle shooter fired a 9mm semiautomatic handgun – the same gun which nearly killed Officer McKenna.
Mayor Bramson and Congressman Bowman, predictably riding the waves of the shifting political tides, are now lamenting their inability to stem the flow of illegal guns into the hands of teenagers:
“The tragic death of the 16-year-old New Rochelle boy is only made worse by the fact that he was killed by a 16-year-old who was able to get his hands on a gun. The system is failing our youth at every level. We need to do everything in our power to support our youth and their families, address the mental health crisis, and put an end to the influx of guns coming from outside of our state and into the hands of our teenagers. This is unacceptable and cannot be normalized”. Congressman Jamaal Bowman on January 27, 2020 commenting on the shooting death of a 16 year old in New Rochelle.
“More broadly, this incident highlights yet again the destructive impact of our nation’s lax gun regulations, which flood firearms into the wrong hands and can transform any dispute into a heartbreaking loss”. Mayor Noam Bramson on January 27, 2020.
Getting guns off the streets of Westchester is extraordinarily dangerous work. It requires a profound level of bravery, yet is so often overlooked or worse, taken for granted. Since the death of Kamal Flowers, New Rochelle police officers have made forty gun arrests, each time risking their own life in the process. Each time a police officer takes a gun illegally possessed by another from the community, he or she faces the very real risk that they too will be placed in Officer McKenna’s dangerous position. Police officers should not be forced to consider whether they want to die a “hero” or live as a “defendant”.
It is long past time to once again allow Westchester County police officers to use the tools they already have to stop the violence that is plaguing our communities. The progressive policies of frighteningly liberal District Attorneys who believe that police officers are the problem and not the solution must be soundly and loudly denounced. The citizens who truly care about the safety of all of our county’s neighborhoods must come forward and be heard. We must, as law abiding residents who seek to protect all children in all communities, elect leaders who understand that police officers are our greatest weapon in the war on gun violence, who deserve support rather than contempt. We must reject the anti-police rhetoric that is demoralizing police officers and curtailing recruitment.
And it is long past time that someone thank Alec McKenna for his service.
Andrew Quinn, Esq. The Quinn Law Firm, PLLC
