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Funeral for Slain NYPD Officer Ramos; Thousands Bid Farewell To Slain Officer

Aired December 27, 2014 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: We are in a city struggling to define itself, where people are searching for what they stand for and why. Where people claim know best what it's like to be everybody else. But we know who we are, the men and women who wear that blue and wear that badge. Because we know who Rafael Ramos was. He was a father, a son, a brother and a husband. He was a New Yorker. He was a New York City police officer. And he was, he is a hero.

At the family home the other day, Mayor de Blasio and I visited, his sister Cindy told me that because their dad died when he was an infant he took on the father figure role for the family as he grew. Cops who served with him said you could see that in the way he worked. Justin, Jayden -- you got the chance to know your dad the way he didn't get to know his. You got to learn from him the way he taught others, the way he taught you.

Your aunt said your dad knew a little bit of everything and he was willing to let you know it. Your mom said he was the type of man who if he set his mind on something, he went for it. And he did it. Other cops said the same thing. He came on the job older, a family man, street smart, worldly. He knew how to handle people and the younger cops looked up to him. He never shirked a task and he never complained.

You should be so proud of him, as we all are. And as I know you are. But over the last week you have seen that the memorials and this funeral have been about more than just your dad. I know how strange it is; so comforting on the one hand to have the whole department, the whole city indeed the whole nation in mourning with you. To feel that solidarity, to know that we'll never let you be alone again, that we are your family now just as we were your dads. But a burden too, having something so private for you to be so public at the same time because here we are.

We are here because your dad was assassinated. That is a different word than murdered which is awful enough. It speaks of the prominence of the person killed. It makes the crime intentional and symbolic. Your dad was assassinated because he represented something. And that is true. He did.

He represented the men and women of the New York City police department. He was the embodiment of our motto "Fidelis Ad Mortem", Faithful unto Death. He represented the blue thread that holds our city together when disorder might pull it apart. He represented the public safety that is the foundation of all our democracy. He represented the best of our values, as anyone can see by looking at you and at your family. But he was also your dad, a good man who tried hard and sacrificed and had a desire to serve, to serve his department, his city, his family and certainly his God.

When DHL closed one employment door years ago, that desire led him to a new door with our school safety division. And aren't we lucky that he did. Where he was assigned to the Rocco Lorie Intermediate School named for another police officer assassinated with his partner nearly 43 years ago. Like Officers Ramos and Liu those officers were killed for their color. They were killed because they were blue. And that desire to serve led him to enter the police academy at 37 years of age.

Your mom said he'd come home pretty tired competing with all those younger recruits. But he passed with flying colors wearing the gold (inaudible) for being in the top of his class. No small feat. And that desire to serve led him to study to be a chaplain. And I'm privileged to be able to tell you that today I'm appointing him an honorary department chaplain of the 84th precinct.

A posthumous member of that family within our family administers to us in our time of need. Officer Ramos was assassinated because he represented all of us even though beneath the uniform he was a good man. And he was your dad.

Maybe that is our challenge. Maybe that is the reason for the struggle we are now in as a city, as a nation. Maybe it is because we all come to see only what we represent instead of who we are. We don't see each other, the police. The people are angry at the police, the people who support us but want us to be better. Even a madman who assassinated two men because all he could see was two uniforms even though they were so much more.

We don't see each other. If we can, if we can learn to see each other, to see that our cops are people like Officer Ramos and Officer Liu, to see that our communities are filled with people just like them too. If we can learn to see each other, then when we see each other we'll heal. We'll heal as a department. We'll heal as a city. We'll heal as a country. And wouldn't that be the ultimate, the ultimate honor of Officers Ramos and Liu that their deaths helped us to all heal.

But Ecclesiastes teaches "There is a time to every purpose under the heavens." Today is a time for us to mourn Rafael Ramos. It is time for us to remember him.

And in a few days we'll be here again in a different place that is the same to celebrate the life of Officer Liu, many of whose family members are here today. That will be a time for sadness too. But some day the tears will end. The memories will not. We never have and we never will forget.

Last Sunday at St. Patrick's Cardinal Dolan spoke to the police. His cathedral thundered with prayer he said. And he asked me to tell my officers, we love them very much. We mourn with them. We need them. We respect them and we're proud of them. And we thank them.

And as police commissioner of the city of New York I am so proud of each and every one of them and the stories they give me to tell.

And prouder of none more than the stories of Police Officers Ramos and Liu, both of whom I promote today to detective first grade.

Thank you for that applause for them -- applause so thunderous that they will hear it at the gates of heaven that Officers Ramos and Liu are now standing guard at.

Maritza, Justin, Jayden, Julia, Cindy -- here we are today surrounded by a sea of blue. Here we are, our family will always be with yours. We don't forget. Here we are and here we always will be for you and for the city. And God bless the New York City Police Department. And God bless you, all of you who are here today. And certainly God bless Rafael. In life he and Liu guarded the schools and streets of the city. In death he guards the heavenly gates with Michael the Archangel, patron saint of police officers standing with them. May God grant him rest, may God grant him peace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may be seated. One of the customs that we have here at the church is that when we pray often times as a symbol of unity we would join hands. So I'd like you to join your hands with the person on your right and your left all over this building, all of the --

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Martin Savidge now joining the live coverage of the funeral for Rafael Ramos, the police officer who along with Officer Wenjian Liu, was assassinated as city officials have said in New York City one week ago.

You just listened to Police Commissioner William Bratton, who among other things in his statement posthumously promoted both of those officers to detective first grade to a rousing sound of applause from those in the congregation and at the service. We're watching now as the service is beginning to conclude and the mourners will begin to file out as the last prayers are being said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Given this level of value to this family, to this police officer and all of the law enforcement officers that are here; the Governor, Mayor, Commissioner, my condolences to you.

20,000 police officers have died in the line of duty since the inception of law enforcement in this country. Over the past five decades an average of 180 police officers a year have lost their lives in the line of duty. Last year 2013 was the lowest in five decades, 100.

But I would say to you that one police officer life lost is a tragedy. And when that individual walked up to that police car and assassinated those two officers, he didn't even know their names. But it is what they stood for because they stood for protecting the freedoms that we enjoy in this nation.

I've been asked to pray for the law enforcement officers. And I sat there and just wondered how do you pray? What do you say? What stirs the heart of an individual who willingly puts on a shield and a uniform knowing that the moment they put it on, they put their life in jeopardy? Someone who's willing to live in danger so that others can live in peace. How do you pray for a person like that? Because it takes a special kind of person. What stirs in their imagination? I can't answer that.

But I do know that Officer Ramos was a man of faith who believed in something higher. And maybe it is not a job. Maybe it is a calling that moves them.

I'm going to try. Let's bow our heads. Our God, our Father, God of justice, God of mercy, God of love, God of righteousness. A God so concerned about humanity that you sent your own son to participate in this humanity -- to be one with us, to feel what we feel, to cry with us, to be hungry with us, to be pained with us. There is only one word to describe what you did. For you so loved the world that you gave.

And these officers so love their communities that they are willing to give. Officer Ramos, Officer Liu -- they paid the ultimate price. They gave the ultimate gift. And that is the gift of their life.

Oh Father, strengthen this family in a way that only you can. It takes something to divine -- something divine to walk them through the grieving process and to let them know that greater than the loss is a gain of a legacy that will remain in the hearts of our nation forever symbolized by the thousands of officers standing outside this building right now, showing solidarity, showing support, expressing brotherhood.

Father, walk them through it. Surround them with the support and the comfort of friends and their pastor and family. Give them encouragement that only you can give. And we pray for the law enforcement officers not just here in New York City, across this country; but at this moment especially for our NYPD. Men and women that believe something, and they believe it enough to put on that uniform and that shield.

We pray your protection for them. We pray wisdom and sensitivity for them. We pray understanding for them because in so many instances it is because of a lack of understanding that communities don't cooperate with them. We pray that they will be united more than before.

Oh Father, keep them, secure them, love them, elevate them, lift them, encourage them, strengthen their families as they wait every day for them to come home. And we know that at the end of the day that is what they begin the day with, just wanting to make it back home and end the day with gratitude because they made it back home. We pray for them, Father. We lift them up before you.

And we pray for a city that's broken, a city that needs to be healed, a city where we as leaders take the responsibility for that healing. And sit at the table of conversation and negotiation and compromise because we realize that it is about something greater than ourselves. We pray, Father, that you will bring a special light and a special anointing upon New York City, that you walk us through this and that we come out greater than we were before. Yes, we pray as humbly as we can. Knowing that it is going to take something greater than ourselves, someone greater than ourselves to bring us together and give us peace.

Thank you for the privilege of prayer. Thank you for the grace to pray. And thank you for a God who not only hears but acts on our behalf. We bless you, and we thank you in your precious name. Amen.

SAVIDGE: And there you hear the closing prayer now for the funeral of fallen New York Police Officer Rafael Ramos. The tributes are also being paid to his partner Wenjian Liu. And then inside of the church was that congregation but outside the remarkable images of such a massive gathering of those showing support. Many of them police officers, men and women from across the country. More than 25,000 police officers are all there to say goodbye to this New York police officer. Those two officers were slain one week ago today.

And Miguel Marquez is standing by outside of this church. And Miguel the scene is just astounding from here.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It -- it is breathtaking to see the NYPD remember the life of one of its own officers who fell. This particular case happens in a context unlike any other we have seen for the family, his wife and two children and their extended family who is here it is a very personal affair. But for much of New York and for a lot of people around the country, this is -- they are also taking this personally because it happens in a time of racial tension.

The only person speaking today that even touched on that was the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, when he talked about other cases out there that we know in New York are a concern. And they will look at those. They will examine those and they will take everything in they can with those cases in order to try to get to the bottom of what happened there and try to bridge the differences. Talking about how New York is a city of so many, you know, 8.4 million people. And that they want to know that this city is united.

Mayor de Blasio for his part got up and talked about extending his heartfelt condolences on behalf of the 8.4 million New Yorkers out there. I can tell you outside here in an episode of just how tough a job the mayor has in the weeks ahead, hundreds of police officers turned their backs on the screens, on the church as he spoke. Some in ones and twos right behind us, another big contingent over here, a big contingent down Cypress Avenue -- or Street -- Cypress Hill Street on the cortege where the procession will go -- a very large number, perhaps in the thousands, the number of police officers turning their backs on the mayor.

Just in front of us here there's a sign that says "God bless the NYPD" and just below it another sign attached that says "Dump de Blasio". All of this happening at a very fractious and difficult time for the city -- Martin. SAVIDGE: Miguel Marquez just outside the church in Queens where the

funeral is coming to conclusion. He makes reference to, of course, the divide between the New York City police department and the mayor. There are other divides actually that stretch well beyond New York City and as if referencing to that it was the police commissioner of New York who said that to heal as a city could be the ultimate honor to these two fallen officers.

I want to bring in now the Reverend Marcos Miranda, he's the founder and president of the New York State Chaplain Task Force and then CNN commentator, Errol Louis. And Errol, let me start with you. What is your gut reaction to those officers who turned their backs at the mayor today during what was a funeral for one of their own and a time of healing for the city?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, it's a shame. It shows the depth of discontent and division within the city frankly -- Martin. I mean we've had protests over the last few days although the mayor specifically asked protesters to hold off for just a couple of days until the officers' funerals were completed. That didn't happen. In fact there's protests scheduled for later this afternoon in Brooklyn in a separate case.

We've got now police officers -- and I don't think anybody can recall ever seeing anything remotely like this, so publicly showing disrespect or at least division with the mayor, who's the head of the city at a solemn moment like that.

So the mayor is going to have his hands full. He was hoping for a small break from trying to heal some very deep divisions but apparently that is not going to happen. It will be the talk of the town. It will be something that the mayor's going to have his hands full dealing with.

But it also suggests though Martin that the breach may be irreparable. That there isn't going to be a way to sort of rein in the level of discontent between the police and the administration that they serve.

SAVIDGE: Right. It certainly suggests that it's not something that can be healed overnight.

Reverend Miranda, you know Officer Ramos personally. So what would you like people -- us to know about him?

REV. MARCOS MIRANDA, NEW YORK STATE CHAPLAIN TASK FORCE: He was an amazing man, a kind man. Took our course and passed it. He excelled in every aspect of it. It was a great honor not only to see that the commissioner went ahead and bestowed upon the honor of being an NYPD chaplain to him posthumously but it is an honor for all of us here at New York State Chaplain Task Force. And just to have (inaudible) among us -- we were blessed.

SAVIDGE: And I want to bring back Miguel Marquez outside of the service and remind you that we are waiting as the casket will be brought out and we will continue to follow this very solemn ceremony. Miguel -- so many officers there. And again we look at this I just can't help but remark hat when you see these images from everywhere you look, men and women in blue or uniforms of service. And what was the attitude like when the service was going on?

MARQUEZ: In large part very respectful. I mean it is amazing to see all of the officers in their finest uniforms, officers from Massachusetts, from Canada, from around the world gathered here. Also the ceremonial guard for NYPD here in their finest with their ostrich feather hats and the bag pipes. And that will be a very, very moving moment when that happens.

We keep seeing the helicopters here about 12 helicopters from the New York Police Department and other law enforcement agencies circling around waiting to make a fly over here down Myrtle Avenue shortly before the casket comes out.

Of the thousands of police officers gathered here, for the most part they were polite. The governor speaking, you know, was in full politician mode. He was joking with the family saying that, you know, you can tell the quality of a man by his family. Saying that the kids are Mets fans so they have to be -- you know, they got have to love and be really, really, really loyal, which got a big laugh out of everybody out here and in the service as well.

The Vice President speaking very personally to the family, both of them got applause as they spoke. When the mayor spoke, there was -- it was crickets. There was no applause. Some officers turned their backs in the hundreds here in the area that I am standing but it may have been many thousands more down Cypress Hill Street where the funeral cortege will go down.

It is symbolic of just how tough an environment New York is and just how far this mayor has to go in order to bridge the gap now between his administration and this police department -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Errol, we touched on this a minute ago but I wanted to talk a little bit more about it. And that is of course, that this funeral service by many as we led up to it was thought to be a moment to pause and reflect and to consider where and how the city and maybe the nation moves forward when it comes to the issue of police work and police in a community.

But now it seems that it has almost raised tensions rather than reduce them.

LOUIS: Well New York City doesn't do pause very well, I guess. And maybe the rest of nation is now seeing a little bit of what we live with every day. You can't get eight million people to all be on the same page. And frankly that wasn't true even after 9/11. You know, we'd like to think that we can be unified around certain things that there are certain bottom lines we might all see broad agreement on and yes that's true but also, you know, when you're talking about a police force as large as the NYPD there are going to be those who are just not going to be controlled. They are not going to sort of run with the pack. There is a serious problem here. I mean the mayor just the other day chastised the New York City media saying that we were sort of presenting divisions, that we were dividing the city. And, you know -- you know this Martin. I mean, you know, the response of course from the media was look we're just the messengers here. We're just telling you what's going on out there in the streets.

And the mayor said very pointedly, well we know a very different reality. I don't know what it takes to get through to some of the politicians in New York. There's a real serious division. It's a little bit mysterious -- I'll certainly say that because we've never had a safer year than 2014. It's a record low since they've kept records. Over the last 40 years, we've never had so few homicides. All of the major crimes are down.

So policing is supposed to be -- you know, really this is supposed to be a moment of celebration as we end this our safest year and yet there are all of these divisions over how it's done, what it means. It is probably the slow emergence of a new type of policing for a much safer city. And some good can come of all this but the politicians, the police, the protesters, everybody has to sort of figure that out together. And I think the turmoil that you are seeing these days is really that new style emerging, whatever it is going to look like.

SAVIDGE: The vice president, Joe Biden was there, of course, speaking and delivered some very powerful and even personal remarks. Let's just listen back to some of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm sure I speak to the whole nation, Mauricia, when I say to you that our hearts ache for you. I know from personal experience that there is little anyone can say or do at this moment to ease the pain, that sense of loss, that sense of loneliness.

But I do hope you take some solace in the fact that as reported by the presses over 25,000 -- 25,000 members of the same fraternity and sorority as your husband who stand and will stand with you the rest of your life, and they will. It is an uncommon fraternity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: I want to bring in now CNN senior political analyst and editorial director of the "National Journal," Ron Brownstein. I thought the words of the vice president were extremely strong. I guess, I'll get your insights.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I agree. If you look through the upper ranks of the Obama administration, you see why Vice President Biden was not only the best but maybe the only senior representative they could have sent to this.

There is the personal connection the fact that at the age of 29, and the 30 between being elected to the Senate and taking office, that his wife and young child were killed in a car accident. There was that kind of personal empathy.

There is also the long history of the law enforcement issues during the Bill Clinton administration as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was the author of the legislation that provided funds for police departments around the country to hire a hundred thousand new cops.

And there is the reality that he is in effect this administration's ambassador to working blue collar America. And I thought he was very -- it was striking however that he really avoided any political message at all, as did Mayor De Blasio.

And I thought it was equally striking how strong Governor Cuomo was in identifying with the police. And ultimately it was the Police Commissioner Bill Bratton who gave the most nuanced and in many ways profound message that those who criticize the police need to see the police as individuals and the police need to see the communities as individuals.

And I think that was the most powerful thing that anybody said during that very moving and ultimately personal memorial.

SAVIDGE: Correct, right. You know, with the vice president certainly knowing his past and personal loss and how he could very much say I feel your pain, to borrow a line. And then also too, referencing the police commissioner, he made -- and I'm talking about William Bratton.

He made another powerful line. He said that these officers too were killed for their color, that color was blue. Ron Brownstein, thank you very much. Standby please. Errol Davis and Reverend Moranda, standby as well.

In the meantime, we're going to take a short break and be back in just a moment.

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SAVIDGE: You are looking live now at Queens, New York, where the funeral for Officer Rafael Ramos is under way. The services coming one week now after he and his partner were ambushed and gunned down in their patrol car. That was in Brooklyn.

Tens of thousands of police officers now from around the country are bidding farewell to one of their own as is the vice president, Joe Biden, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio among others who delivered very powerful statements inside the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens where Officer Ramos was a member.

There you see the mayor, Mayor Bill De Blasio leaving with his wife. You may remember that during his remarks, the eulogy. Officers outside at least some turned their back on the mayor as a sign of disrespect and displeasure.

This goes back a long way, but it has mainly do with the protests that were held in New York City, which were viewed at least by those who wear the uniform of police officers as antipolice and that the mayor tacitly seemed to give support to those protests.

As the mourners continue to come out, we await to see the casket of Officer Ramos. Miguel Marquez is standing by and viewing all of this. Miguel, what about the public? I mean, we see, of course, police officers here in large numbers. I'm wondering whether the public is present as well.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are members of the public present, but they are pushed back farther. The area where we are here is part of the area where all the police officers are filled in.

And I can tell you yesterday during the wake and today the public is several blocks away in different areas here. We're in a supermarket parking lot where some members of the public have been resourcefully able to get to and they have been coming up here to see what is going on and to take pictures as well.

There is a great well of interest and support in showing the world that New York is not just protesting against NYPD that there is great support for the NYPD here and for police in general. And that is why in part you see the grand turnout that you do with the number of police from different agencies across the country and from other countries as well.

A very, very impressive show here and when the casket comes out and the bag pipes begin to play and this cortege makes its way to the cemetery, about a mile away from here. I will be a sight to behold -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: I was in New York last weekend when this all tragically unfolded and the shooting took place on Saturday. Sunday morning I went to the intersection where this took place and there was a very small memorial that had started.

There were some candles, some flowers and a few notes that had been laid otherwise out on a pretty ordinary sidewalk. And now it is quite amazing to see how that memorial has grown significantly.

And has become a place that people almost make a pilgrimage to, to either offer their own addition, their signs and notes or to simply officer a silent prayer for the healing of their city.

It is a place people continue to go and now has needed a shelter overhead to try to protect it. It's grown so large, but again, we continue to watch as the mourners come out of the church from where this service was.

There is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. And we continue to listen to the words. We'll go back once more now to the governor of New York and listen to some of what he had to say inside of the service.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: When you put on that badge as a police officer, you are no longer just a man and a woman and a citizen of New York. You represent public safety and law and order. And an attack on the NYPD is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on our system of justice. We are a nation of laws. We are a state of laws. We are a city of laws. And you represent those laws. And no one, no group is above the law. And no intimidation, no threats, and no politics will ever change that.

SAVIDGE: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaking inside of the service today for fallen Officer Rafael Ramos. I'm going to bring in Rosa Flores. She is also following this for us and is looking from a different vantage point. Rosa, what are you seeing and hearing?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Martin, I'm along the street with a lot of police officers from around the country and even Canada. And I can tell you that there are a lot of heavy hearts here. There is a lot of pain.

I've talked to several of the police officers here. And they tell me that it was important for them to be here in solidarity with a family of Rafael Ramos. Now, I want you to take a moment. Because if you have ever been to New York City you know that there is really no moment of silence.

And I want to give you a piece of that silence today. Because I think it's important to share that silence that we are feeling and listening here on the street because there are really no words to describe it.

I'm going to ask my photographer to just pan over and just take a moment to breathe in this moment. You can see there are police officers, like I said, from around the country.

And I want to read you do something that was posted on Facebook by the son of Rafael Ramos because it was very, very moving, Martin. And he said and I'm going to quote. This is him talking about his father.

He says he was there for me every day of my life. He was the best father I could ask for. It is horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops. But they are the people that they call for help. I will always love you. And I will never forget you. RIP, Dad.

I can tell you from talking to a lot of the police officers here, Martin, they feel the exact same way. They say we don't wake up in the morning thinking that we're going to go out and kill somebody. That is not their intention.

That is what these police officers are telling me. They say they wake up knowing that they are going to serve their community and knowing that they leave a family behind. And they don't know if they are going to come back for that family.

And so those are the emotions that we can feel here out on the street today because so many of these officers of course are brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters, and they know that when they serve out on the street they don't know if they are going to come back home.

Now, we're expecting the funeral procession to come down this street and up to the cemetery. So we'll be here, we'll be waiting, Martin, and we'll bring you everything we can as it happens.

SAVIDGE: All right, Rosa, thank you very much. It's a very powerful scene even with just silence, so remarkable to see such a large city that can be collectively holding its breath and praying.

I want to bring in the Reverend Marcus Miranda. And Reverend, let me ask you this. We're waiting for the casket so maybe we'll stop our conversation at that moment to take that in.

But as a friend, as a person, I was struck by your comments earlier. And I was also struck by the fact that Officer Ramos was studying to be a chaplain, and would have graduated the day he died. And that is so poignant.

REVEREND MARCOS MIRANDA, PRESIDENT, NY STATE CHAPLAIN TASK FORCE: It is. I was actually at the graduation. It was a two-parter, a 12:00 p.m. graduation and a 4:00 p.m. We have 13 sites where these chaplain candidates take their courses and Officer Ramos's site was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. graduation.

As I was on the pulpit and received the news that two police officers had been assassinated. Tears came to my eyes, not even knowing that it was one of ours.

SAVIDGE: Wow. His dedication to the church, his faith was incredibly strong and well known, right?

MIRANDA: Absolutely. His dedication and as the God head of his home, instructing his family in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a Christian that he was, he was an extremely faithful. And he felt that in doing the work with NYPD, he was serving his community as well and doing God's work.

SAVIDGE: Thank you very much, Reverend. Let's listen now.

And we've been following the final moments of the funeral for New York Police Officer Raphael Ramos. What you've been watching there is that very poignant moment when the flag that draped upon his casket was unfolded ceremonial by the honor guard and then offered and handed to Officer Ramos' family.

You didn't need any words to describe what they were feeling, their emotions and their desire to touch that flag as a last reminder, especially of the two boys there, of their father, who died in the line of duty to New York. It's been an extremely powerful and moving funeral service.

Miguel Marquez has been watching outside of Christ Tabernacle Church there in Queens. And it has to be even more moving to be there in person, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: To watch that casket come out, to see the people kind of piling into the parking lot, where we are, to see the police officers trying to capture a picture or to remember this moment is, it's very moving, to hear the trumpeters playing "taps" as that casket came out of Christ Tabernacle Church, you could hear, I mean, you could only hear them.

Everything else was absolute silence, and then you had this enormous roar of helicopters, a dozen helicopters from the NYPD, from New York State Police, from New Jersey Police, from different law enforcement agencies, pass over Myrtle Avenue and then right down the Cortez Route, the way that they will go to the final resting place for Officer Ramos is amazing.

They are now moving individuals back now so that they can make room for the Cortez to make its way down Cypress Hill Street, so that they can take him to his final resting place, all eyes now on that casket. Whatever divisions may be within this city, whatever divisions may have seen here, those are all gone, all eyes now on this casket and with that family -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: We'll continue to follow this. We'll take a break. Be back with more in a moment.

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