Police officers tailgate at Trump rally, call for death penalty for cop killers

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – New York police officers threw a rally of their own outside of an appearance by former President Donald Trump at the packed Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Wednesday in support of the Republican candidate days after a second failed assassination attempt.

Lou Civello, the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association president, said the union threw its support behind Trump because he was the only candidate who "backs the blue."

Civello said the union’s support for Trump over Harris was a no brainer due to anti-police Democratic policies, such as the "defund the police" movement and criminal justice leniency that has freed 42 convicted cop killers in the last seven years.

KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORTED ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ IN 2020 RADIO INTERVIEW, BEFORE BIDEN CAMPAIGN SAID OTHERWISE

Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Uniondale, New York on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

"And not the people who drove the car were somehow loosely involved in the murder, the people who actually executed police officers," he said.

"We call for the death penalty for cop killers" he said. "President Trump supports that."

He slammed Vice President Kamala Harris for past comments that were both critical of police and in favor of the "defund" movement. Harris, who embraces the title of a former "top cop" on the campaign trail, in a nod to her careers as a prosecutor, previously made pro-defund remarks and floated the idea of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: WHY FLORIDA PROSECUTOR SAYS ‘INSANITY’ DEFENSE WON’T STICK FOR SUSPECT

Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Uniondale, New York on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.  (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

During Trump’s first term in office, Civello said, the former president played a direct role in quelling a plague of MS-13 violence.

"When they were chopping up children with machetes, he came to Long Island and stood shoulder to shoulder with us," he said.

TIMELINE OF 2ND FAILED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON DONALD TRUMP; SUSPECT RYAN ROUTH DEVELOPED RAGE, RADICALISM

Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Uniondale, New York on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

In one case, gang members killed a mother and then slaughtered her young child to prevent him from growing up and seeking revenge, Civello said.

"They took the toy that the civilian had and he brought it home to his own girlfriend’s son," he told Fox News Digital. "That’s the sick perverse people that have no regard for human life that made up MS-13."

Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Uniondale, New York on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

The Suffolk County PBA was the first police organization in the state to endorse Trump for president.

The PBA held its tailgate across the street from the Coliseum before officers crossed over to attend the Trump rally.

Members of the Suffolk County PBA attend a tailgate ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Uniondale, New York on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

Patrick Ryder, the police commissioner in Nassau County, where the rally was held, vowed earlier this week the venue would be the safest place in the country.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Thousands of Trump supporters showed up hours early for a chance to get inside the 18,000-seat former home of the NHL’s New York Islanders.