Mayor ‘Publicly Hanging’ NYPD Sergeant in Danner Case: Civil Rights Lawyer

New York, MANHATTAN — The NYPD sergeant who shot and killed a Bronx woman in her home this week is having his rights trampled by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill, one of the city’s top civil liberties lawyers told DNAinfo New York.

Within hours of shooting Deborah Danner for coming at him with a baseball bat, Sgt. Hugh Barry was publicly excoriated by both the mayor and the commissioner — who each said he “failed” to follow police procedures and exercise appropriate restraint when dealing with the mentally ill woman.

“The mayor and Police Commissioner James O’Neill have to exercise restraint, instead of feeding red meat to the public who want the cop to be found guilty immediately,” said Norman Siegel, former head of the NYC Civil Liberties Union and a longtime community advocate for police reforms reforms.

“When you make comments like, ‘We failed,’ that is completely unacceptable,” Siegel continued. “Police officers have rights like everyone else, and we should not be publicly hanging them without their due process and trials.”

A mayoral spokesman said de Blasio “spoke honestly about a very disturbing incident and made a simple fact very clear: Deborah Danner didn’t have to die. We are determined to get to the bottom of this awful incident, seek justice and ensure it never happens again.”

The NYPD didn’t immediately return a request for comment. dnainfo.com/new-york