A member of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and a police officer in the Texas capital of Austin has lashed out at the city’s mayor.
In an interview with Fox & Friends, Justin Berry expressed disgust and shock when Mayor Steve Adler (D) was spotted apparently sleeping during the funeral of Officer Anthony Martin.
Co-host Todd Piro introduced the segment by saying “after all the ways that this mayor has disrespected police, from defunding to eliminating your stipends which you use to live on, did him falling asleep at a cop’s funeral even come as a shock to you?”
“It did, actually,” Berry replied. “Just…on a human level, it is hard to comprehend that a person would fall asleep during someone’s memorial service like that; so yes, it was very shocking.”
Berry went on to reject Adler’s apology as well, describing it as wholly inadequate.
“That’s not even a real apology. And to not even call Officer Martin’s wife and talk to her personally about it. I mean, that in and of itself speaks volumes to just how little he truly cares,” he said.
“And yet again, it just shows more empty words out of this mayor [who] time and time again has either used funerals or other ceremonial occasions for political opportunity, to be seen in photos, and it’s disgusting, quite frankly,” Berry added.
Thank you @FoxFriendsFirst for covering @MayorAdler empty words and disrespectful actions towards the family of Ofc. Martin.
You can still support Tony's family by donating at https://t.co/U6djCaXzve
????? @ATXPOA https://t.co/I22mSajKIu— Justin Berry (@realJustinBerry) October 5, 2022
Pirro then said that Adler has a reputation for disrespecting local police and working against them.
“This has been going on from him since about 2017, and it doesn’t make sense,” Berry responded. “It started there, and then it [continued] with the riots of the summer of 2020, when he was out there with people that assaulted our officers, destroyed our community, looted and vandalized businesses in our community, and just further tried to throw fuel on the fire to build distrust with the men and women who proudly wear the badge and serve the city of Austin.”
“It’s very infuriating and very hard to comprehend that, and now you’re looking at our homicide rates are soaring, going through the roof — we’re having an extreme staffing crisis right now,” he noted further.
“We’re back at staffing levels from 2006 now, and you are having to pull officers like Officer Martin off their primary units and send them back to taking calls on patrol,” Berry added.
“I think it’s very infuriating that the mayor, who had the audacity to show up to his funeral in the first place, would then go there and fall asleep,” he said.
“I think Officer Martin’s wife said it perfectly, ‘how do you find comfort, how do you find the sleep, during a one-hour funeral service,’ especially as his daughters literally poured out their hearts to all of us. It’s hard to find polite words for anything about the mayor at the moment,” Berry concluded.
According to the Austin American-Statesmen, “Before dawn on the morning of Sept. 23, Martin was driving home following a night shift when his motorcycle was involved in a crash with a sedan…He was pronounced dead at the scene.’
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