An NYPD captain had to publicly apologize for taking twitter potshots at transit advocates over a woman’s death on the subway tracks.
Thomas Harnisch, of Harlem’s 25th Precinct, started a social media war on Sunday, when he posted a news link about Aracelis Ayuso, 21, who fell into the tracks while using her iPad on Saturday in Union Square.
“Let me guess, driver’s fault right?” Harnisch slammed sarcastically, tweeting at the street safety advocate group TransAlt and Keegan Stephan of Right of Way NYC from his private account.
@th25647 A woman is dead and you are using this as an opportunity to criticize our attempts to save lives? @transalt
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) July 13, 2014
Stephan quickly fired back, “A woman is dead and you are using this as an opportunity to criticize our attempts to save lives?”
Sincere apologies 4 insensitive & unprofessional tweets. Not how I was raised, trained, have served. Will work 2 restore trust/confidence.
— NYPD 25th Precinct (@NYPD25Pct) July 14, 2014
The cop stepped it up a notch — blasting back from the 25th Precinct’s official Twitter account.
“Isn’t that exactly what you do? Seize on a tragedy and assign culpability having no facts? To further your agenda?” he wrote.
Harnisch, apologized on Monday, tweeting, “Sincere apologies 4 insensitive & unprofessional tweets. Not how I was raised, trained, have served. Will work 2 restore trust/confidence.”
But Stephan is still shaken.
“It was very disturbing to me, considering the victim’s grieving family,” Stephan said.
He added, “It was knee-jerk victim blaming.”
Harnisch switched his Twitter profile to private after the incident.