McNesby On Krasner: 'It's Time For Him To Go"

The most popular new T-shirt for Philly cops

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

FOP President John McNesby has an explanation for why Mayor Kenney, after three years of silence, suddenly blasted the district attorney last week for his soft-on-crime policies that have resulted in another wave of shootings and murders.

"I think for quite some time he [Kenney] has been taking the high road and the high road has come to an end," the FOP president said this morning in an interview.

McNesby said it's been lonely at times being Krasner's most vocal and often his only public critic. But after three years the results are in on Krasner's radical social experiment, and it's as bad as McNesby and the FOP had originally predicted. That's why the mayor is finally speaking out.

"We see crime is up just as we said," McNesby said. "We see murder is up just as we said." And still, McNesby said, Krasner refuses to work with anybody. The list of people the radical D.A. won't work with, McNesby said, now includes the mayor, the cops, the attorney general, and the U.S. Attorney. Instead, McNesby said, the D.A. is just "out there doing his own thing," which means doing more favors for criminals while emptying the city's jails.

"He doesn't work with anybody and we're all sick and tired of it," McNesby said about Krasner. "It's time for him to go."

And how might that be accomplished?

Maybe the feds take out Krasner out, like they did with Rufus Seth Williams, the city's previous D.A. Or Krasner may get voted out of office next year when he comes up for reelection.

Let's hope we don't have to wait that long.

McNesby also promised to throw "the biggest party the city's ever seen" the day Krasner leaves office or is taken out. Apparently everyone in the city will be invited.

What does Krasner have to say in response to McNesby's comments? As usual, Krasner and Jane Roh, his minister of propaganda, were holed up in their bunker and did not respond to a request for comment.

McNesby had a few more things to get off his chest before he had a chance to discuss the effect the coronavirus is having on the police department.

As long as he's FOP president, McNesby said, "Larry Krasner will not get into a hospital" where a police officer lies wounded. The FOP president was referring to the unprecedented demonstration last month, when officers gathered outside Temple University Hospital locked arms and refused to let Krasner and his entourage enter the place where the family of Corporal James O'Connor was grieving his death.

McNesby said he also has personally sent a message to Krasner telling him not to show up on the doorstep of O'Connor's family, to ask that they join him in trying to spare a cop killer the death penalty.

That's exactly what Krasner did to the family of Sgt. Robert Wilson III, who was murdered in 2015 as he attempted to stop a robbery in progress. Krasner subsequently outraged Wilson's family by ignoring their wishes in advocating only for life sentences for the killers.

"That message is already delivered," McNesby said about telling Krasner to stay away from O'Connor's home. About any possible future meeting between the D.A. and the O'Connor family, McNesby declared, "It's absolutely not going to take place."

Regarding the coronavirus, McNesby says the FOP has been busy spending their own money to buy sanitizers by the 55-gallon drum size, because they're in the process of sanitizing all police offices and vehicles.

"This is uncharted territory," he said. "I'm concerned about the officers out there, whether they're out quarantined, or working without [proper] equipment."

On Sunday, Lt. James Walker, 59, who was supposed to retire in December after three decades of service, was pronounced dead Sunday night at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health. Walker became the first known case of a Philadelphia police officer dying of the coronavirus. And in the squad he left behind, in the Traffic Division, more than half of some 30 officers have since tested positive for the virus.

In the wake of Walker's death, workers in full hazmat suits were seen fumigating the Traffic Division offices, as well as all police vehicles there. And private security officers employed by the Navy who work at the Traffic Division are no longer there.

The Inquirer reported that Walker's wife said he was admitted to the hospital March 27th when he was having trouble breathing, and that his positive test for the virus came back the next day. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he wound up on a ventilator before he died.

In his last few days on the job, Walker was in visibly bad shape but was still seen by fellow officers walking all over the Traffic Division headquarters at 4500 S. Broad Street, near the entrance to the Navy Yard.

"I noticed him slumped over," one officer said. "This guy aged 20 years overnight. I don't know why they let him come to work like that. Two days later, he was in the hospital on a ventilator."

The officer wondered why the city wasn't shutting down the building and requiring the other officers in Walker's unit to self-quarantine.

"A lot of people are in shock, a lot of people are in disbelief, and a lot of people are angry," the officer said.

McNesby said he agreed with that suggestion, saying that the entire Traffic Division could be shut down because "It's not a necessary unit at this time."

A spokesman for the city did not respond to a request for comment.

In New York, nearly 20 percent of the NYPD are out sick. So far, more than 2,000 department employees have tested positive for the virus, and a dozen officers have already died of the virus.

As far as the situation here in Philadelphia with the police, however, city officials are keeping a tight lid on that story.

The news blackout is being led by Managing Director Brian Abernathy. At a press conference yesterday where he was mouthing platitudes and being generally evasive, Abernathy told reporters that he didn't see any benefit in disclosing how many police officers have so far tested positive for the virus.

McNesby said Abernathy's position didn't make much sense to him.

"I don't know why they want to do it that way," he said. He added that he did not have statistics on how many officers so far have tested positive for the virus, and how many officers are in self-quarantine.

But he said, "I'm not getting any hints of drastic numbers" like what's happening in New York.

Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests the situation here is getting worse. A police detective has tested positive for the virus, as have a couple of officers in homicide.

At today's press conference, Abernathy announced that the police commissioner is now working from home. The optics of the new police commissioner staying at home while thousands of cops are still showing up for work has rankled some cops.

"It's a slap in the face to all of us out here," one officer said. But the police commissioner may be staying home for a good reason.

In the absence of official comment, according to sources, Captain Sekou Kinebrew, a department spokesman, was in the hospital with the virus and Deputy Commissioner Dennis Wilson also tested positive for the virus.

As department spokesperson, Kinebrew, was frequently seen driving the new police commissioner around the city, prompting speculation that the police commissioner may be in self-quarantine. She's getting tested for the virus.

Tonight, numerous sources confirmed that Outlaw was in self-quarantine. Apparently, she's trying to keep it quiet, and Abernathy is leading the cover up. When a TV reported asked the managing director point blank if Outlaw was in self quarantine, he was non-responsive.

Meanwhile, city officials have been dealing with the fallout from the death of Walker.

In an email yesterday to police officers, Mayor Kenney stated, "We don't know where and how Lt. Walker contracted the virus. We will continue to do all we can to protect those serving on the front lines."

In a separate email to police officers, Police Commissioner Outlaw wrote, "Our thoughts and prayers are with his [Walker's] family and friends. We will work with the FOP to see how we might support him."

To cops, the words of the mayor and the police commissioner meant that they were taking the position that Lt. Walker did not die in the line of duty, and that his family did not deserve any death benefits that would normally be granted.

But as far as the opinions of the mayor and police commissioner are concerned, "It means nothing to us," McNesby said.

The position of the FOP: Lt. Walker "absolutely" died in the line of duty, McNesby said.