NYPD members saluted the coffin of slain cop Wenjian Liu Saturday, as
NYPD members saluted the coffin of slain cop Wenjian Liu Saturday, as other mourners bowed and lit incense in a somber wake that fused the department’s tradition with Buddhist ritual.
The wake will be followed by a funeral at 11 a.m. today (Sunday), the second of two farewells for the officers shot and killed by a cop-hating assassin while sitting in a patrol car in Brooklyn on Dec. 20. The double murder has led to a crisis in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s relationship with rank-and-file police.
Liu’s widow and parents sat clenched in “intense suffering” in the funeral home, where the officer’s body lay in an open coffin, Rep. Peter King said.
“His wife, the widow, looks absolutely devastated,” said King (R-Seaford), as he left the wake. “Very somber, quiet sorrow.” Speaking of Liu’s parents and widow, he said, “Their bodies were hunched very tightly. Very controlled sadness.”
Officers filed past the coffin and photos of Liu as some mourners bowed three times — a Buddhist custom, said Winnie Greco, a liaison to the Chinese-American community for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
De Blasio paid respects inside the funeral home for about 15 minutes Saturday. Awful!
This situation is so sad!