Soon-to-be former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and Mayor Eric Adams shared a hug at a Juneteenth event Thursday — three days after the top cop announced her sudden resignation amid tensions with City Hall.
In their first public appearance together since Sewell shared the shocking decision, Adams introduced her warmly in front of a Gracie Mansion crowd by comparing her to his own sister, whom he described as selfless and composed in the face of adversity.
“When I came into office, I saw someone who fit that description,” the mayor said. “I saw her poise, I saw how calm she was, I saw her spirit. I saw her and I thought automatically about Sandra, my sister.”
Adams said he prayed to god and god told him she was “the right person [at] the right time.”
“And I want to say at the last Juneteenth she will be at, I want you to show our police commissioner, Keechant Sewell, some love,” Adams said to loud cheers and applause as he welcomed Sewell to the stage.
Putting reported differences aside, the pair smiled and hugged before Sewell took over the mic as audience members shouted their approval of the city’s first woman police commissioner.
Sewell, 51, said it was an honor to be there and to have served the city.
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“It takes a man a history of tradition of values to believe that he can put me in this position after 176 years of people not looking like me in this position,” she said of Adams. “I absolutely cannot thank the mayor enough for giving me this extraordinary opportunity to come to this community, to come to the NYPD, to meet all of you and to be your police commissioner.”
“This has been the honor of my lifetime to work with all of these amazing people,” she added, turning to those on stage behind her. “And thank you so much for being a part of my life. I will miss you all.”
Sewell announced on Monday that she was stepping down after just under a year and a half at the helm of the NYPD in a move that sources said blindsided City Hall.
She did not provide a reason for her departure, but sources told The Post the commish was pushed to her “breaking point” amid a power struggle with City Hall over the country’s largest police force.
With several former NYPD cops and leaders in the Adams administration — including Hizzoner himself — Sewell, an outsider who was Nassau County Chief of Detectives before being appointed, found it difficult to have any say over the department she was hired to run, sources have told The Post.
Adams reportedly left her powerless from the start by creating a culture where NYPD chiefs were allowed to bypass their commissioner by going straight to top City Hall officials and ex-cops including Deputy Mayor Philip Banks and Mayoral Aide Tim Pearson.
During Thursday’s event, Adams acknowledged the tough position Sewell would be walking into as the first female NYPD commissioner.
“She’s going to have a difficult job. She’s going to be attacked and criticized and beat down and called names and [told] you’re not good enough,” he said.
