Fmr. NYPD Commish Kelly: Cops Turning Backs on Mayor ‘Bad Form’

Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly tried to ease back some of the rhetoric on Morning Joe Monday a.m., saying that NYPD union chief Pat Lynch had “gone too far” when he claimed that Gotham Mayor Bill de Blasio had “blood on his hands” for the murder of two NYPD officers in Bedstuy Saturday night.

Cohost Mark Halperin then asked the commish about the incident Saturday night in which NYPD officers turned their backs on the mayor when he entered for a press conference — something he said would be unthinkable in a military setting. “Should they be fired?” Halperin asked.

RELATED: Giuliani: Blaming De Blasio for NYPD Murders ‘Goes Too Far’

“It’s certainly something untoward,” Kelly said. “It’s something I would prefer not to have happened. There’s nothing that would allow that to result in discipline. Is it bad form? Yes. Does it rise to a disciplinary issue? I don’t think so.”

Kelly reiterated his objection that de Blasio had run an “anti-police campaign” for mayor in 2013, highlighting divisions between cops and African-American communities at a time when the NYPD had a high approval rating.

Watch the clip below, via MSNBC:

[Image via screengrab]

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