NEWBURGH – Newburgh City Councilman Omari Shakur, Saturday, apologized to city residents for the way he responded in last week’s encounter with city police officers. “The reaction displayed is not who I am and I fell short of the love that I feel amongst my constituents in Newburgh and of the leadership I want to represent.”
In an open letter to the community, he said since he became a councilman, “I have made it a priority to extend an olive branch to the police department and have met regularly with the police chief so we can continue to improve community and police relations.”
He said “all people should be treated with respect and dignity, and that includes members of the police department. That respect must be reciprocal. Though I was not afforded that respect, I should not have reacted in the manner that I did.”
Shakur asked for an independent investigation of the incident “so that the full facts can come to light.”
The freshman councilman said he is “working on doing better and will need the love and support of the community. I look forward to continuing to repair the gap between the police department and the community.”
Despite his mea culpa, Shakur said the video “does not capture the entire incident.” He said there were about 15 minutes of unrecorded interaction with an undercover police officer “during which I was subjected to direct and personal harassment that were deeply disrespectful to me, my deceased son and my family. It was particularly painful to be treated this way while I was engaged in a discussion with a constituent around a particular set of challenges that we were trying to resolve.”
