NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- A Staten Island Supreme Court judge has denied the city Police Benevolent Association’s request of halting the vaccine mandate for police, the union announced Wednesday.
The PBA announced that their request for a temporary restraining order was not allowed, but that the lawsuit will move forward after it was filed Monday.
Judge Lizette Colon ruled that the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate can take effect as scheduled. She also ordered city officials to appear in court Nov. 12 to defend the requirement against a union lawsuit seeking to have it declared illegal.
Colon ruled hours after hearing arguments from lawyers for the PBA, the city’s largest police union, and the city, which prevailed in arguing the mandate should be implemented without delay.
“Today’s ruling sets the city up for a real crisis. The haphazard rollout of this mandate has created chaos in the NYPD. City Hall has given no reason that a vaccine mandate with a weekly testing option is no longer enough to protect police officers and the public, especially while the number of COVID-19 cases continues to fall,” said PBA President Patrick Lynch.
Hundreds of NYPD members received COVID-19 vaccinations ahead of the city’s looming municipal mandate Friday, though a cop shortage remains a "very real possibility," Commissioner Dermot Shea said on PIX11 Wednesday.
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The mandate applies to more than 160,000 city workers — and thousands still needing to get vaccinated. First-responder agencies like the fire and sanitation departments are also reporting low vaccination rates, with only about 65% of their members vaccinated.
Shea said the wave of vaccinations brought the department’s vaccination rate to about 73%.
“Police officers are being told to make a possibly life-changing decision in a matter of days to meet a completely arbitrary deadline, while the NYPD’s leadership spins its wheels and offers no guidance,” Lynch continued. “This not only violates police officers’ rights — it will inevitably result in fewer cops available to protect our city.”
More than a quarter of the force could be put on unpaid leave if they don't meet the city’s 5 p.m. Friday deadline to show proof of at least one coronavirus shot.
Lynch said the PBA is continuing to fight and will appeal the ruling, and made not secret that he thinks Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea should be blamed for “putting politics before public health and public safety.”
De Blasio has argued that vaccine mandates are a critical tool to boost the population’s vaccine rates. He’s expressed confidence that more and more city workers will get their shots, pointing to the success of the mandates already in place for the city’s Education Department and healthcare workers.
The blow back from the mandate was seen on the Brooklyn Bridge Monday, as protesters shut down traffic in a march against it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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