The head of the union that represents two Human Resources Administration officers suspended after the video-recorded wrestling of a baby from its mother demanded on Monday that Mayor Bill de Blasio reinstate them and apologize for making them his “sacrificial lambs.”
Teamsters Local 237 president Gregory Floyd has blasted Hizzoner repeatedly in the wake of the Dec. 7 arrest of Jazmine Headley while she was cradling her 1-year-old son in a Brooklyn public benefits office — both for the mayor’s slow public response and for his singling out of HRA officers for rebuke.
Before an investigation, the mayor made clear that the HRA officers had made mistakes, but he stayed mum on the behavior of responding NYPD cops — including one who waved a Taser at the faces of clients in the waiting area.
“The [HRA] officers were simply doing their jobs in resolving a difficult situation and there is no justification whatsoever for disciplining them,” Floyd wrote to de Blasio in a letter obtained by The Post. “The suspensions are no more than a transparent overreaction to negative media coverage that arose because you took five days to issue a public statement regarding the incident.”
Two NYPD cops involved in the scuffle during the arrest of Headley, who had been sitting on the office floor, were not disciplined over the incident.
They were cleared of wrongdoing Friday by the agency’s internal affairs bureau.
The HRA officers, Sgt. Toyin Ramos-Williams and special officer Bettina Barnett-Weekes, were suspended Friday for 30 days without pay by HRA Commissioner Steve Banks.
“They deserve your support, not to be scapegoats in a public relationship ploy,” Floyd wrote in the letter.
A City Hall spokesman said de Blasio “has tremendous respect for HRA workers” but declined to address the letter directly.