US cops have been "treated like animals and thugs" in the wake of unarmed African-American man George Floyd's death last month, an irate police union boss says.
The President of New York's Police Benevolent Association (PBA), Mike O'Meara, held a press conference on Tuesday (local time) to take aim at the media and state legislators, who he says have "vilified" law enforcement.
His speech came just days after two New York police officers - Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski - were filmed pushing a 75-year-old man over at a Black Lives Matter rally held to honour Floyd last week.
The elderly Martin Gugino bled from his ears and suffered a head injury, but was not helped by officers. McCabe and Torgalski have since been suspended and charged with second-degree assault over the incident.
In his speech, O'Meara says didn't refer to the incident but condemned Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who has been charged with second-degree murder over Floyd's death.
"We don't condone Minneapolis. We roundly reject what he did as disgusting. It's disgusting! It's not what police officers do… he killed someone," he said.
However he said widespread condemnation of police throughout the US was unfair.
"You know what? This isn't stained by someone in Minneapolis," O'Meara said, holding his police badge up for reporters, before gesturing to police officers behind him. "It's still got a shine on it, and so do theirs.
"Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect. We've been left out of the conversation, we've been vilified. It’s disgusting. [You're] trying to make us embarrassed of our profession.
"You know what guys? I'm proud to be a cop, and I'm gonna continue to be proud to be a cop until the day I retire."
Earlier, he suggested it wasn't true that black children are getting killed by police officers.
"We all read in the paper all week that in the black community, mothers are worried about their children getting home from school without being killed by a cop," he said.
"What world are we living in? That doesn't happen. It does not happen!"
US police have shot and killed about 1000 people each year for the past five years, with African-Americans the victims at vastly disproportionate rates.
The Washington Post reports that of all the unarmed people shot and killed by police in 2015, 40 percent were black - even though this demographic makes up just 6 percent of the US population.
