New York, NY - Councilman Says He Didn't See Slur Being Made, but Knew Voice

New York, NY - The city councilman who has accused the Police Department's top uniformed officer of making a derogatory comment about Jews during a clash between police officers and residents in Brooklyn said that while he did not see the official say the words, he is certain it was his voice he heard.

City Councilman Simcha Felder pressed for an apology from the official, Joseph J. Esposito, chief of department, a decorated police veteran, who has spent much of his career working in the Hasidic community. Mr. Felder said he hoped to meet with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to discuss the matter.
"I want him to put something in writing to the community to apologize for the anti-Semitic remarks that he made," Mr. Felder, a Democrat, said of the chief. He added: "I am asking for the Police Department to send a message to its officers, through its highest-ranking officer, that language like that is unacceptable."

Mr. Felder said he was helping Assistant Chief Joseph Fox in trying to quiet the rowdy factions of the crowd, which he described as, "like a cyclone." At one point, Mr. Felder said Chief Fox asked him to go to the station house, which he did, driving there himself. He got out of his car, walked toward the station, "and I hear this man screaming," he said, adding that he heard the man utter "the Jew comment" about 9 p.m. "I heard his voice," said Mr. Felder. "I did not see him when he said it."
As he got closer, though, he said he saw the man who was screaming and recognized him as Chief Esposito, who was now yelling at people from the community and using profanities. At one point, Mr. Felder said the chief yelled at him.
Mr. Felder said he had "a dozen people" who could back up his account, but said it would not be very easy to get them to come forth, and by day's end, none had.