Remember when Democrat mayors turned their backs on cops during the defund-the-police madness?
That was 2020, and everyone thought it couldn't get worse.
But New York City's new socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani just proved them wrong – and what he did after police shot a knife-wielding attacker tells you everything about who he thinks the real victims are.
NYPD Body Camera Footage Shows Queens Officers Did Everything Right
Police responded to a 911 call on January 26 from a Queens family requesting involuntary removal of their 22-year-old son, Jabez Chakraborty.
The family said he was throwing glass and having a mental health episode.
Released footage shows Chakraborty picked up a large kitchen knife and came at officers.
A family member screamed "No!" trying to stop him.
Officers backed up, repeatedly ordering him to drop the weapon.
One officer even closed a door trying to create distance.
Chakraborty kept advancing with the knife.
Officers fired in self-defense.
The Queens District Attorney is investigating – with preliminary reports suggesting prosecutors are considering an indictment for attempted murder against Chakraborty.
Then Mamdani Rushed To The Attacker's Bedside
Mamdani visited Chakraborty in the hospital and met with his family.
Then he held a press conference demanding Chakraborty receive "mental health treatment, not criminal prosecution from a district attorney."
He's using this incident to fast-track his Department of Community Safety – sending social workers instead of police to mental health calls.
When reporters asked how social workers would handle situations where weapons only appear after they arrive, Mamdani admitted he has no answer.
"A lot of this is exactly the focus of the conversations that we're having internally," he dodged.
Fox News Panel Destroys His Position
"The Big Weekend Show" co-host Joey Jones didn't hold back.
"For Mamdani to take any position on this that would paint that police officer as doing anything but what you would teach in a course is malpractice for the position he holds, and I hope that someone holds him accountable for it."
Fox News contributor Guy Benson identified the real problem.
"To then go in solidarity with the knife-wielder who ignored those orders from the police and to show up in that hospital room like he's the true victim in this rather than the police officer who finally fired his weapon in self-defense – it says everything about this mayor of this town, what he sees as his worldview, who he sees as victims and aggressors, and I don't think the movie gets better from here."
Jones said Mamdani deserves the same treatment previous New York mayors got when they turned their backs on them – officers literally turned their backs on Mayor de Blasio at officer funerals.
Mamdani's Department Of Community Safety Plan Has Fatal Flaw
Mamdani won office by promising to "dismantle" the NYPD and championed defunding police.
His Department of Community Safety would deploy social workers as first responders.
Police would supposedly only show up "when there is a violent situation, such as with a weapon."
But the Chakraborty case exposes the problem.
The 911 call didn't mention a weapon.
The family just said their son was breaking glass and needed involuntary removal.
How would dispatchers know to send police instead of social workers?
They wouldn't.
And that social worker would have walked into a home with a man wielding a 10-inch kitchen knife.
Mental Health Crisis Response: The Defund Police Playbook Returns
After George Floyd's death in 2020, liberal mayors embraced sending social workers to mental health calls instead of cops.
Eugene, Oregon's CAHOOTS program became the model – unarmed teams of medics and crisis workers responding to 911 calls.
Bill de Blasio announced a similar program in November 2020, declaring "health responders will be the default responders for a person in crisis."
Cities from Denver to Oakland to Portland launched pilots.
But here's what they never tell you.
CAHOOTS only handles calls that dispatchers determine involve zero violence or criminal activity.
The moment weapons are involved, police respond.
In 2019, CAHOOTS handled 24,000 calls – but needed police backup 150 times.
Because the real world doesn't cooperate with progressive fantasies about sending unarmed social workers to dangerous situations.
What This Tells You About Mamdani
When someone charges you with a deadly weapon, you defend yourself.
The NYPD officers did exactly what their training required.
They backed up, gave repeated commands, tried to create barriers – and only fired when the threat continued advancing.
Yet Mamdani shows up at the hospital playing solidarity with the attacker.
Not visiting the officers who had to make split-second life-or-death decisions.
Not thanking them for their restraint and professionalism.
Visiting the man who tried to stab them.
That tells you everything about who this mayor thinks are the victims and who are the villains in his twisted worldview.
And it tells you exactly what's coming for New York City if he gets his Department of Community Safety up and running.
Sources:
- Taylor Penley, "NYC Mayor Mamdani under fire for defending knife-wielding suspect over police officers," Fox News, February 9, 2026.
- "Mamdani has a lot of explaining to do on his 'Department of Community Safety,'" City & State New York, February 3, 2026.
- Marcia Kramer, "Video shows police shooting of NYC man with history of mental illness," CBS New York, February 4, 2026.
- "For Mental Health 911 Calls, Cities Rethink Sending Police," The Trace, November 13, 2020.
- "This Oregon town of 170,000 replaced some cops with medics and mental health workers," CNN, July 6, 2020.
- "Denver and more U.S. cities successfully sending mental health responders instead of police," TheGrio, April 5, 2021.
