New York Mayor and presidential candidate Bill de Blasio once ordered his security detail to move his daughter Chiara out of her Brooklyn apartment at tax-payers’ expense, multiple sources have claimed.
Members of the NYPD’s Executive Protection Unit were called upon by the city’s top official, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, to move his daughter out of her Sunset Park flat under the cover of night about a year ago, reports the Daily News.
Chiara, who is now 24, lived in the apartment at 4th Avenue and 56th Street for roughly two years, according to a source close to unit. The move was an abuse of city resources, the source told the Daily News.
‘They used detectives and department vehicles on city time to move his daughter … Please,’ said another source with knowledge of the move, who slammed the mayor’s decision.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (above) ordered his security detail to help move his daughter Chiara out of her Brooklyn apartment while on city time, according to multiple sources
Members of the NYPD’s Executive Protection Unit helped move Chiara de Blasio (second from left) out of her apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to Gracie Mansion, sources said. Also above with the mayor are his son Dante (left) and wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray
DailyMail.com has contacted the NYPD and City Hall, but enquiries were not immediately answered.
Cops loaded the first daughter’s belongings into two unmarked vans that can be often spotted outside City Hall, according to the sources. First Lady Chirlane McCray personally oversaw the move, according to one source in the unit.
City Hall did not deny the first lady’s involvement. Chiara’s things were delivered to Gracie Mansion, the sources said.
Some of the first daughter’s belongings were left behind on the curb outside her old apartment at 4th Avenue and 56th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn (above), according to a neighbor
Some of the first daughter’s belongings were left behind on the curb outside her old apartment, according to a neighbor.
The mayor’s reasons for using his unit were not known and weren’t questioned, sources close to the unit said.
‘You can’t question him,’ one source close to the unit said.
‘It’s just part of the job. You just do it out of respect.’
A request for the move would have had to have gone through Inspector Howard Redmond, the embattled commanding officer of the unit, sources said.
A retired NYPD chief told the News that the lines surrounding official duties are often blurred in the unit. However, unless there was an emergency, the move was ‘strange,’ the chief said.
The unit has suffered a number of embarrassments of late, including when the mayor’s staff lost a bullet-resistant vest worn by one of the unit’s members, according to the News.
The $400 vest was loaned to actor Michael K. Williams, who played Omar on the television drama, The Wire, when he appeared with de Blasio during a skit at a charity auction. The vest had not been reported missing.
The unit also was alleged to have covered up a 2015 car crash in which de Blasio was a passenger to protect the mayor from embarrassing headlines as he pushed Vision Zero initiative for safer streets.
A driver changing lanes was alleged to have struck the mayor’s vehicle while it was on its way to a Harlem event. No injuries were reported.
The unit’s the commanding officer, Howard Redmond, was alleged to have made text messages, obtained by the Daily News, that revealed he ordered the incident be covered up to protect the mayor.