Uniondale, New York – Days after the second assassination attempt, New York Police Department officers held their own rally in support of Republican candidate Donald Trump outside a packed Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday as he spoke.
Lou Sivero, president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, said the union supported Trump because he was the only candidate who “stood blue.”
Sivero said it was only natural that the union would support Trump over Harris, given the Democratic Party's anti-police policies, “defund the police” campaign and its criminal justice leniency that has freed 42 people convicted of killing police officers in the past seven years.
Kamala Harris supported “defunding the police” in a 2020 radio interview, but the Biden campaign expressed opposition.
Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate party ahead of a rally for former President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
“It's not that the people driving the car were somehow involved in the murder, it's that the people who actually executed the police officers were involved,” he said.
“We are calling for the death penalty for those who kill police officers,” he said. “President Trump supports that.”
He blasted Vice President Kamala Harris for her past comments criticizing police and supporting the “defund” movement. Harris, who liked to call herself a “former top cop” during the campaign, given her background as a prosecutor, has previously spoken in favor of defunding the agency and has advocated for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump assassination attempt: Why Florida prosecutors say suspect's 'insanity' defense won't work
Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate party ahead of a rally for former President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
Sivero said the former president played a direct role in quelling the spread of MS-13 violence during Trump's first term in office.
“When they were chopping up kids with machetes, he came to Long Island and stood shoulder to shoulder with us,” he said.
Timeline of the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump: Suspect Ryan Routh grows angry and extremist
Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate party ahead of a rally for former President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
In one case, gang members killed a mother and then brutally murdered her young child to prevent the child from growing up to exact revenge, Sivero said.
“They took a civilian's toy and he took it to his girlfriend's son,” he told Fox News Digital. “That's what MS-13 is made up of: sick, degenerate people with no regard for human life.”
Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate party ahead of a rally for former President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
The Suffolk County Police Association was the first police organization in the state to endorse President Trump.
The PBA held a tailgate party across from the Coliseum before officers crossed over to attend the Trump rally.
Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate party ahead of a rally for former President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
Nassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder, where the rally took place, vowed earlier this week that the site would be one of the safest in the country.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Thousands of Trump supporters arrived hours early for a chance to enter the 18,000-seat stadium, the former home of the NHL's New York Islanders.
