NYPD top cop Dermot Shea calls NYC health chief’s remarks ‘very disturbing’

Dr. Oxiris Barbot’s blunt rejection of a high-ranking police official’s request for more face masks was “very disturbing,” according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, who said he is not yet among those pushing for her firing.

During a brief phone conversation in late March with NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, Barbot told him, “I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops,” sources familiar with the matter told The Post.

“Certainly, as I said, let’s be clear, when you read that headline, that’s very disturbing,” Shea told PIX 11 in an interview. “But what was actually said, what was the context, what was the discussion between two people — both that are trying to do the best in a bad situation — so I think it’s a little preliminary.”

At the time the comments were made, the commissioner said, the NYPD was “at times scrambling and worried about the supply” of face masks, and relied heavily on donors and other sources.

But Shea said he will “stay away from” calling for Barbot’s firing, as the city’s police unions have — including the Sergeants Benevolent Association, who, in a tweet, called the health commissioner a “b—h” who has “blood on her hands.”

Shea also stopped short of saying the city dragged its feet in getting police officers adequate personal protective equipment.

“What I do know… is that you’ve got to take the context as well, in the beginning of this,” Shea said.

“What we know now is different than what we knew two months ago,” the commissioner added. “People are worried right now, but they were a lot more worried two months ago. And at that time [we were] dealing with changing regulations, we’re dealing with front-line workers such as the police and EMS, we’re also dealing with hospitals and trying to get everyone these supplies.”

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