 New York is there is a lot of pain in America right now a lot of pain in Memphis And like so many of you, I'm feeling that pain My heart goes out to Tyree Nicholas family and friends and the people of Memphis as A human being I am devastated as a mayor. I am outraged And as someone who spent decades fighting for police diversity and against police abuse I feel betrayed by these officers There's no other way to say it I have been a police officer and I have been the victim of police abuse I know the impact of it When my brother and I were beaten as young men in the basement of a police station by officers I was angry I refused to trust the system But when I turned to civil rights activist reverend herbert daughtry He encouraged me to turn my pain into purpose And that's what I did as a police officer Who co-founded the organization 100 blacks in law enforcement who cared We fought against police abuse from within the system Any officer who gauges in violence and brutality Tarnishes all the work we have done to keep communities safe And force a better relationship between the police And the communities they serve And they make it harder for their brothers and sisters in uniform to accomplish The incredible work they do day in and day out In this case the memphis mayor The police chief and the justice system acted quickly and decisively Resulted in the arrest of the five officers responsible for taris death This is not always the case And I strongly commend them for their actions Here in new york city We are working and will continue to work hard to prevent something like this from happening I know the importance of police to our communities And I have stated over and over again That we have a sacred covenant Our officers must follow the law and be held accountable for their actions. Otherwise There is no law We should be able to express our sorrow and our rage But we must take all that pain and turn it into purpose Like the reverend daughtry taught me I have just been breathed by the white house along with many other mayors across the country Immediately before that I communicated with over 125 elected officials here in the city We discussed the video that will be released today a video that by all reports Will be graphic and disturbing It will trigger pain and sadness and many of us It will make us angry My message to new yorkers is to respect the wishes Of mr. Nichols mother If you need to express your anger and outrage Do so peacefully My message to the nypd has been And will continue to be To exercise restraint We as a city and nation Must have an open dialogue about what happened to mr. Nichols And it means taking actions As americans united against violence and abuse of power I've dedicated over 40 years of my life to the pursuit of both safety and justice And as your mayor Let me promise you this I will continue to work with leaders across the nation To make that vision A reality Thank you