Mayor Eric Adams hit out 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.
Olayemi Olurin, a self-described “movement” lawyer and abolitionist thinker, appeared with Adams on iHeartMedia’s The Breakfast Club” with hosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy in a segment that aired on Friday morning.
Olurin began by labeling Adams as a fearmonger as she defended the controversial cashless bail law, arguing that most freed defendants aren’t rearrested. 6 Mayor Eric Adams, center, clashed with attorney Olayemi Olurin, right, over the murder of police officer Jonathan Diller during an interview on iHeartMedia’s The Breakfast Club” with host Charlamagne Tha God, left. Instagram/msolurin 6 Mayor bristled at Olurin’s description of Diller’s shooting death as a “rare occurrence.” The Breakfast Club 6 Olurin highlighted officer-involved shootings that she said have left at least seven people dead in NYC this year. The Breakfast Club
“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 on Wednesday afternoon.
Adams appeared taken aback that Olurin minimized the death of Officer Diller.
“Im 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. 6 Diller, 31, was shot dead during a traffic stop in Queens on Monday.
Adams then suggested that Olurin might want to walk back what could be perceived as an insensitive comment 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 dont want to take you out of context and I dont want people to all of a sudden criticize that youre being dismissive of a young man being shot and killed,” the mayor said.
But the lawyer doubled down.
“Mayor Adams, thats not gonna work on me,” Olurin said. 6 Charlamagne Tha God argued that Adams’ decision to put more cops in the city’s subways were making commuters fearful. The Breakfast Club
“Listen, Im 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 retorted, “Of course you didn’t.”
Elsewhere in the tense on-air exchange, Olumi took Adams to task for saying “repeatedly that the subways are dangerous, that New York is dangerous; you complain about crime relentlessly,” she said.
The lawyer called on Adams to reconcile his oft-repeated stance that that New York City is one of the safest big cities in the country with how Hizzoner’s rhetoric around transit crime has played into people’s fears.
Is it safe, or is it not? she demanded. 6 Adams spoke passionately about losing a member of his police department to gun violence. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post
Charlamagne Tha God backed Olumi, 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 hes heard from commuters that seeing more uniformed officers in the subways makes them feel safer
“Now you may say, ‘Eric, I dont 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 pre-paid debit cards to buy food as a way to save money for the city, in light of 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 back to their home countries.
“People got a right to be pissed off,” Adams said.
