NYPD email: Sweep station for homeless ahead of mayor's visit

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Mayor Bill de Blasio's subway ride on Sunday was meant to send a message to the MTA. But a different message sent the night before is completely changing the dialogue. An email, obtained by the New York Post, says the NYPD was instructed to sweep two Brooklyn stations of all homeless people before the mayor arrived.

De Blasio on Wednesday said he knows nothing about the email, which is time stamped 10:53PM Saturday. It reads, in part, "Before the Mayor arrives at the 4th Avenue station, the officers are to sweep the station for homeless persons as well as the Jay Street station."

"I haven't seen any directives given, and if it was given it shouldn't have been given," he said.

An officer from the Transit Bureau apparently sent the email. The officer wrote that the sweep plan was approved by an operations sergeant and sent to Transit Bureau executives. The mayor's schedule, prepared by his press office and forwarded from the City Hall police desk, was attached the email. It shows the 11:30AM trip on the F train.

The mayor rode the subway Sunday and then demanded that Gov. Andrew Cuomo fix the ongoing problems plaguing the system.

The NYPD Transit Bureau has not responded to a request for comment.