Former Mayor Ed Koch yesterday offered to join the parade of politicians getting arrested protesting the Amadou Diallo shooting – but only if City Council Democrats and Speaker Peter Vallone join him.
Furious over the arrest and handcuffing this week of former Mayor David Dinkins and Rep. Charles Rangel, Koch called on Vallone and members of the council to join the protest and force cops to handcuff them, too.
“The City Council and the speaker ought to as a matter of conscience tomorrow or the day after march over and do exactly what David Dinkins and Charlie Rangel did,” said Koch, after walking up Fifth Avenue in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“If the City Council walked over and did this I would join them,” said Koch. “If I did it by myself it would be called grandstanding.”
But Vallone (D-Queens) said he won’t be joining the protest.
“I have great respect for Ed Koch, and I say we all express our disapproval in different ways. My way is to change the law and to make sure it’s obeyed,” said Vallone.
Dinkins, Rangel (D-Manhattan) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) were among a dozen arrested Monday at Police Headquarters – the scene of daily protests over the shooting of Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant.
Giuliani’s communications director, Cristyne Lategano, brushed off Koch’s comments.
“It sounds like he found a way to get some cheap publicity at the expense of the New York City Police Department,” said Lategano. “It’s really a shame.”
Sharpton, who was arrested at City Hall when Koch was mayor, said he’d welcome his one-time foe to the protest.
“Being as he was the first to arrest me in 1978, I would be willing to help bail him out,” quipped Sharpton.
Meanwhile, the protests continued with 10 more arrests yesterday.
In other developments, lawyers for two of the cops said information that emerged this week about Diallo’s allegedly fraudulent appeal for political asylum bolsters their defense.
Marvyn Kornberg, who represents Officer Sean Carroll, said, “Diallo knew he was in the country fraudulently and illegally and started to run and now we know the reason why. He probably thought the police officers were from INS.
“This is the first step to explaining the action of the police officers were not unreasonable.”
Stephen Worth, a lawyer for officer Edward McMellon, said the immigration records also support their claim that Diallo did not understand the cops’ order to stop.
“Diallo testified at his hearing through an interpreter,” said Worth. “We have suggested at the start that there was language difficulty and now there appears to be one.”