“According to the NYPD, Officer Familia and her partner were assigned to a gang-plagued area, focally purposed to rid the streets of gun violence deployed by rampant thuggery.”
“10-85, 10-85! Shots fired! I need a f—king bus! 10-85 10-85! My partner’s shot! My partner’s shot! Hurry up, Central!” Those were the early morning exclamations bellowed through the police radio of a NYPD cop whose partner had just been shot in the head. In NYC police parlance, a “bus” means an ambulance, and their code “10-85” is used when additional units are required. “Central” is the NYC police department’s communications operations division (dispatchers), where all phone calls and radio chatter filters. Throwing in the word “forthwith” means get here yesterday. And that is how July 5, 2017 dawned in the Big Apple and ended for NYPD police Officer Miosotis Familia, 48, a 12-year veteran and mother of three.
The morning after celebrating Independence Day 2017 and glorious displays of fireworks rained down, the icon of a NYC cop ensuring everyone’s independence is no more. NYPD badge #7370 is streaked with blood after a paroled felon ambushed and shot Officer Familia once in the head. Stationed in a NYPD mobile command post in the Fordham section of the 46th Precinct, Officer Familia, 48, was executed by Alexander Bonds, 34, who fired once through the vehicle’s passenger-side door glass.
According to the NYPD, Officer Familia and her partner were assigned to a gang-plagued area, focally purposed to rid the streets of gun violence deployed by rampant thuggery.
The NYPD released the 11-minute-long graphic police radio transmissions in which Officer Familia’s partner screams for help immediately after his partner is shot. Within the context of the audio revelations, responding officers jumbled the police frequency with “radio traffic” while police dispatchers tried to sort through it all and deploy necessary logistics. Within scant minutes, a NYC cop can be heard broadcasting, “Perp in custody.” What cannot be heard via the radio transmissions is that Bonds was not only immediately encountered but also opted to engage police in a gun battle. He lost and became the second morning casualty minutes apart from the last fleeting moments of Officer Familia’s life.
Within hours of her horrific demise at the hands of a crazed killer, Officer Familia was enveloped by scores of NYC cops who lined up at attention outside St. Barnabas Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, subsequently saluting the removal of her body as it was transported to the NYC medical examiner’s office.
A felon freely walking around the big city with malice in his mind and the misused means of destruction in his hand made July 5 an indelibly ugly day for three siblings to whom Officer Familia gave life. He followed through with hatred, after which he folded to the ground and spent his last breath. The entire debacle epitomizes the word senseless. Yet, the NYPD and others will try to make some sense out of it all. In roughly one week, cops from all over will band their badges with black ribbons and hear the final radio call for Officer Familia. The extent of Familia’s family will converge upon church property and blanket burial grounds. Unlike roll call before hitting the streets to perform her duty, that final call will go unanswered. And badge #7370 will be laid to rest with the courageous woman who donned it well for millions she did not know at all.
Facebook Posts Announcing Anti-Police Sentiments
NYC cops have now become aware of Bonds’ Facebook posts spouting anti-police rhetoric as well as some contradictory statements, including thanking God for being out of the devil’s house (prison). Some of his Facebook diatribe included saying, “Police is f—-ts, and this ain’t no gimmick,” as reported by the New York Daily News.
“Don’t think every brother, cousin or uncle you got that get (unintelligible) in jail is because of a Blood or Crip. Police be killing and saying an inmate killed them,” Bonds wrote, alluding to incarceration and implications of prison life. After he served eight months in NYC for a 2004 drug sale conviction, Bonds served seven years in NY state prison—Attica Correctional Facility—for an armed robbery conviction. Paroled in May 2013 and supervised by state prison authorities until May 2018, Bonds was essentially a free man…until 12:30 a.m. this morning.
As December 31, 2016 ticked toward the New Year, Bonds ticked and shared with the world his sentiments, which, for the most part, appeared to exude a favorable outlook: “Good morning everyone I want to thank God for see another year it ain’t been a easy ride when has it that’s what I respect the most.” Bonds closed out his New Year testimony with the words, “Just few years ago I was in the devil house I truly thank the man for his help and the people that was put in to my life to get it right…Happy New year eve blessing to all be safe out there.”
Those year-ending words illustrate a man whose convictions may have been a tightly woven blend of hardship and repentance, appearing to have seen the light and fashioned to walk into it, until darkness loomed once again. The very irony of a convicted felon lambasting the lives of law enforcement officers followed by an invitation for all to “be safe out there” is thought-provoking. It also leads to more questions. What changed since then? What compelled the worst-case scenario to evolve? How could such an evil deed been prevented?
Again, we have a killer who telegraphed his ill-will toward police officers, acted out his grotesque thoughts, and exacted carnage upon a public servant in a law enforcement uniform. Like others before him, forensics will analyze the entire incident to include both the murderer’s pathology as well as police protocols that may require altering. Did both cops have any idea of the shooter’s presence? Was the mobile command post situated whereby all angles were covered? Was lighting an aid or hindrance?
While civil rights activists balk and whine over NYC’s elaborate surveillance camera system to thwart crimes, footage from any strung in the area of this morning’s homicide may offer details to paint a complete picture of the shooting, including moments before, during, and after. Some are espousing reconsideration of the federal judicial ruling banning the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policies. If it were still in effect, could such an act have been abated? More pertinently, would Bonds have thought differently and reneged his mindset?
After recently exploring Chicago’s gang gun violence epidemic and federal agents sent there to help quell the homicide rates—“Chicago Gun Strike Force”—a gang-plagued area of the Bronx, NY is where Officer Familia was assigned…for the equivalent dilemma Chicago is confronting.
Take into account the stark reality of a cop whose partner was just assassinated before his eyes. Also consider how in the blink of an eye, mayhem ensues. Ponder the police dispatcher’s composure; her unshakable demeanor in the moments of pure chaos is admirable, stemming from something grossly inconceivable. Judge not when you hear a police officer initially say “that might be a stolen radio” in response to absolute terror-stricken screams of the surviving police partner who called it in; the comment is a mere sign of the times and how bizarre policing can be nowadays. Bad guys get hold of a police radio and prank like children. I’m sure that comment will be both condemned and understood. Not much in policing is ordinary, and the extraordinary often plays out like a bad act.
In this shooting, the police radio frequency becomes a mega-jumble of “cross traffic” whereby everyone on duty and on the channel mobilizes at once. The ensuing radio transmissions cover each other…resulting in clogged airwaves and potential delay. The dispatcher and superiors repeating “Clear the air” denotes how the cavalry is on the way, yet no sense of order can be determined. That is not unusual. Despite police protocols, human nature evolves…and it doesn’t sound pretty. Little wonder, therefore, why police officers suffer ample internal strife. This is the latest example of chaos brought to the boots on the ground, how quickly it evolved, and how swiftly the threat was taken out.
Good cops know each other’s voices. They can read inflections to detect when something is amiss. They also astutely know who is assigned where and what special operations are in play, cutting down on gray areas whereby (as in this case) a precise location was not immediately given.
As NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said in the NYPD press conference, it is “such a painful tragedy.”
The GRAPHIC audio transmissions seconds after the shooting are hair-raising. They also translate only one layer of police culture, and how/why human physiology and psyche take a huge hit throughout police careers. But nothing compares to the loss of Officer Familia than the gaping hole in the hearts of her three offspring.
