Eric Adams allegedly carries fake picture of fallen cop in his wallet, shows it off to press: report

New York City Hall aides have claimed that Mayor Eric Adams carries around a photo of the late police officer Robert Venable that was created by employees using a printed Google image. 

According to a New York Times report on Thursday, Adams has repeatedly told the story of his friend who was killed in the line of duty during media interviews and that he keeps his picture in his wallet. One person familiar with the request told the outlet that employees were instructed to create a photo of Officer Venable.  

The person said employees printed a picture found on Google, printed it in black and white, and even spilled some coffee on it. Adams then showed the photo to the New York Times after they requested to see it. Two former City Hall aides told the outlet under conditions of anonymity that they were informed about the manipulated photo last year, shortly after it was created.

Spokesman for the mayor Fabien Levy told the Times that Adams had kept a photo of Officer Venable, but did not deny he showed a recreated photo of his friend at a recent police ceremony. 

New York City Hall issued a press release in response to the Times inquiry. "It is disgusting that The New York Times has chosen to have Robert Venable’s friends and family relive the tragic murder of a loved one for nothing more than feeding its obsession with dissecting every single moment of Mayor Adams’ life as the paper continues its unsuccessful campaign to paint the mayor as a liar,” Levy said in the statement. 

“Mayor Adams, Officer Venable, and a number of other members of the NYPD were close friends before Officer Venable’s murder, and any implication otherwise is patently false," he said. "Countless members of the Police Department can verify their friendship that started as two officers who were coming up in the force together, at a time when few Black leaders had positions of power in the Police Department. Over 30 years ago, after Officer Venable’s murder, then-Officer Adams made a copy of a photo published of Officer Venable from an NYPD Transit News Bulletin — a document he still has to this day." 

"For decades, Mayor Adams has carried a picture of his friend who died in the line of duty, and the Times’ efforts to attack the mayor here would be laughable if it were not so utterly offensive," he concluded. 

Members of Venable's family and five officers who served on the NYPD with the two confirmed Mayor Adams's friendship with Venable. Januari Venable said in the press release "I was only eight when my father was murdered. I don’t remember most of the people who were there for my family, but in the 36 years since I lost my father, Eric Adams has been there, even after the cameras were gone.”

She told allegedly told the Times that she had not met the mayor until this year. As for the picture she said, "All I can say is that as far as being in his wallet or not, the fact that people still think of my dad all these years later — whatever the meaning behind it — it makes me thankful that he’s not being forgotten."

"I didn’t know all of my brother’s friends, but Eric Adams had a wonderful relationship with my mother and was there for my family when it mattered despite The New York Times’ effort to drive a wedge between us,” said Venable's sister Denise Benson in the press release.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Community Affairs Marke Stewart said, “To say The New York Times was grasping at straws would be an understatement. Eric and Robert were friends, and the Times has hit a new low with this attack." 

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, Robert Venable served with the New York City Transit Police Department for three years before he was shot and killed while attempting to arrest two heavily armed men at an abandoned building in Brooklyn. He was shot as he and two other officers were approaching the scene and succumbed to his injuries.