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New York City police officers say they were treated poorly while seeking medical attention at a Brooklyn hospital after staffers mistook them for federal immigration agents.
The disturbing alleged incident unfolded on Jan. 16 at NYU Langone in Cobble Hill.
NYPD narcotics detectives in plainclothes entered the emergency department after a suspect reportedly spat blood on them.
“Last week, two NYPD Detectives were mistreated while seeking medical attention at NYU Langone – Cobble Hill Emergency Room after being injured on duty during the arrest of a violent perpetrator,” the Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA) explained in a statement.
“Upon arrival, they were met with rudeness, disrespect, and a lack of basic professional courtesy by hospital administrators.”
Tensions escalated when two of the officers were reportedly told to “secure” their weapons outside the building before receiving treatment — which is apparently not hospital policy.
The officers were then “accused of being ICE and were told maybe you should go elsewhere,” a police source told the New York Daily News.
Langone representatives initially pushed back on the officers’ claims before later apologizing for the “misunderstanding.”
NYC Councilwoman Vickie Palladino slammed hospital staffers for operating “completely outside ethical bounds for medical personnel.”
“Let’s be very clear about something — when doctors and nurses and medical staff begin to refuse critical care over perceived political differences, we will have reached a breaking point in this country,” Palladino warned.
“If the medical profession has now abandoned that basic morality, and patients now have to worry about being refused treatment — or worse — because of political hostility from their own countrymen, then a rubicon has truly been crossed and there isn’t much else to say.”
The DEA has vowed to probe the matter further and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has requested that all hospital staff be retrained to avoid any similar incidents in the future.
