DE BLASIO: “My final point before turning to Commissioner Shea. As has been reported, my daughter Chiara was arrested at a protest. I want you first to know and I think many, many parents can appreciate this, she’s 25 years old and did not inform Chirlane or I of her attention to get arrested. I knew of some of her views, I knew she believed in peaceful protest, I knew she had participated a few nights ago but in a peaceful manner, and when I found out she had been arrested, finally reached her with Chirlane and we asked her to recount the whole story. Look, I love my daughter deeply, I honor her, she is such a good human being, she only wants to do good in the world, she wants to see a better and more peaceful world. She believes a lot of change is needed. I’m proud of her that she cares so much that she was willing to go out there and do something about it. She recounted the story in detail to me. She was acting peacefully.
She believes that everything she did was in the spirit of peaceful, respectful protest, and the bottom line is I will let her speak for herself in any way that she wants to, but I admire that that she was out there trying to change something that she thought was unjust and doing it in a peaceful manner. It’s a reality that every parent faces that you never know when your kids become adults how they’re going to go about their lives. Sometimes you get surprises, but even though this was a surprise to Chirlane and I, I respect my daughter, I honor her and I know her heart. I know she appreciates humanity, every kind of humanity. She appreciates the fact that people serve us. She appreciates the fact that we need to change this world and she in her own way has tried to do something about it. And for that I want to just tell her how much I love and respect and admire her. With that I turn to Commissioner Shea.”