NYPD 6th Precinct Prepares for Pride Parade, Honors Officer Who Saved a Life

Pride is around the corner, and the 6th police precinct said it is taking proper safety measures for the community. During their monthly town hall meeting, the last one of the summer season, Deputy Inspector Nichola Minor, the commanding officer of the 6th Precint talked about his plans to handle the crowds during Pride.

He also highlighted an award handed to one of his arrest for arresting a violent felon in Washington Square Park while simultaneously saving the life of a stabbing victim.

“You’re going to see an abundance of police on Sunday. But they’re there for safety,” he said. “The cops are there just to assist people, to make sure they’re celebrating respectfully, that everyone, however they go to Pride, they’re going home the same way.” With thousands of people flooding the streets for this massive annual celebration, the community is adamant about having support from the NYPD.

One West Village resident made complaints about her street, Cornelia Street, during Pride. “In the past, our block has been cut off every year for the Pride Parade. And only last year did the incidents go down of our block becoming a toilet.”

She inquired whether the city had found a solution to this and if they were planning to provide public facilities for people to use. Deputy Inspector Minor recognized the issue and commented that he did not know whether there would be any solutions yet.

Other concerns about pride included whether SRG (Strategic Response Group) officers would be deployed. These are essentially elite officers picked from different precincts around the city to patrol large events. “Many people think of them as being the worst of the worst when it comes to committing violent acts against people in the community,” said a community member who inquired about the presence of SRG officers. The Deputy replied that there were no SRG officers scheduled to be at Pride. Furthermore, Washington Square Park will not be barricaded, letting people have the freedom to celebrate through the night.

There have been noticeably fewer cops in the park recently, and with the rise of assaults, people are concerned. “

We are seeing a little bit of assault in Washington Square Park,” said Deputy Inspector Minor. “The problem is the last few weeks, as you know, the cops need the resources. They’re having to stretch very thin, very thin. They’re holding these watch parties for the Knicks games and the parade. And we’re going to need the resources for this to happen.”

Deputy Inspector Minor had a promising solution for this dilemma. The 6th precinct was recently assigned 13 new officers to assist in the demand. “But what I’m going to do is I’m going to flood the park myself. So instead of putting the specific patrol cars, if you will, I’m putting them all in the park just to make sure we have that police presence steady in the park now in the summertime.” Community members clapped in appreciation for this effort by the NYPD.

Out of the uptick of assaults seen by the 6th precinct, one of them resulted in a man being stabbed in the chest. He sustained no fatal injuires, and the perpetrator was arrested on sight. “This is just hot off the press. They’re requesting bail at $150,000,” reported Deputy Inspector Minor. The cop who arrested the attacker received the Top Cop Award this month at the meeting. Deputy Inspector Minor gave a background on the officer Muhammed Elias’ heroic act before handing him the award.

“Not only did he arrest the perpetrator, right, which is great. We got a person that was responsible for the stabbing and harassing the female with the knife. He also applied a tourniquet on the male that was stabbed, which also helped save that person’s life. And for that, he is complimented with this award.”