Bill de Blasio forgets to mention victims of terror attack at anniversary memorial service (despite managing to praise 13 officials) and has to go BACK to the podium to apologize after being chastised by their families

  • Bill de Blasio spoke for 12 minutes without mentioning any of the victims' names 
  • He then returned to the podium when a friend of one of them confronted him 
  • He apologized for the omission and had to then apologize for mispronouncing one of the victim's names
  • The mother of the only victim who was a New Yorker was told about the service at 4pm yesterday 
  • She had already left town to escape the reminders of her son's death and was 'very hurt' she could not attend
  • De Blasio id manage to mention 13 cops and officials by name during the speech 
  • His office told DailyMail.com the victims families should have been told about the service sooner  

Mayor Bill de Blasio was forced to apologize to the victims of eight people killed in  a terrorist attack last Halloween after failing to mention their names during a 12-minute speech at a memorial service to mark one year since their deaths on Wednesday.

On October 31, 2017, eight people, including six foreign visitors, were murdered when Uzbekistan terrorist Sayfullo Saipov plowed into them with a truck on a bicycle path on the West Side Highway in Tribeca. 

The victims were Nicholas Cleeves, 23, Darren Drake, 32, Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, and friends Diego Enrique Angelini, Ariel Erlij, Hernan Ferruchi, Hernan Diego Mendoza and Alejandro Damian Pagrucco. 

During his speech on Wednesday, de Blasio mentioned none of them but managed to cite 13 separate police officers and elected officials by name, repeatedly gush over the 'resiliency' of New Yorkers and even praise the school children who witnessed the attack from their building and went back to class the next day.

Friends and family of some of the victims were seated in the front row. Hales-Tooke (center) shouted the correct pronunciation of the victim's name when the mayor got it wrong

The friends and family of some of the victims of the attack were seated in the front row. Hugh Hales-Tooke (center) refused to shake the mayor's hand afterwards 

After his speech, he was approached by an angry loved one of one of those who died and was chastised for the glaring omission. 

He then returned to the podium and apologized for not doing so early and read the names but was angrily corrected when he mispronounced Cleeves' name.

The victims' families were not told about the event until 4pm yesterday. 

It means that the mother of Cleeves, the only New Yorker among them, could not even attend.   

She had already planned to be out of town to try to escape the harrowing reminders of the traumatic day and could not rearrange her plans to get back in time to attend.

De Blassio spoke for 12 minutes without but only mentioned names of 13 officials and cops. He spoke repeatedly about New Yorkers' 'resiliency' on Wednesday's one-year anniversary

De Blassio spoke for 12 minutes without mentioning any of the victims' names. He did mention 13 officials and cops and spoke repeatedly about New Yorkers' 'resiliency' 

Nicholas Cleves, 23, was the only New Yorker killed. His mother could not attend the memorial because she was only told about the service by the mayor's office at 4pm Tuesday

Nicholas Cleeves, 23, was the only New Yorker killed. His mother could not attend because she was only told about the service by the mayor's office at 4pm yesterday. When de Blasio eventually read his name, he mispronounced it and was corrected by one of Cleeves' friends who attended 

Darren Drake, 32
Ann -Laure Decadt, 31

New Jersey resident Darren Drake, 32, and Belgian tourist Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, were killed 

Five members of this group of Argentinian friends were also killed. They are Hernán Diego Mendoza (far left), Alejandro Damián Pagnucco (second from left), Ariel Erlij (third from left), Diego Enrique Angelini (second from right) and Hernán Ferruchi (third from right)

Five members of this group of Argentinian friends were also killed. They are Hernán Diego Mendoza (far left), Alejandro Damián Pagnucco (second from left), Ariel Erlij (third from left), Diego Enrique Angelini (second from right) and Hernán Ferruchi (third from right)

It is unlikely that any of the relatives of the victims from Belgium or Argentina had time to get to New York for it. 

A spokesman for the mayor's office conceded in a statement to DailyMail.com that his speech and the organization of the event did not go as smoothly as planned. 

'The program didn’t originally include a reading of the names. When the families raised the issue, the Mayor agreed and read the names. 

'And while the event came together very recently, these families should have been invited earlier,' they said. 

This was the rented Home Depot truck terrorist Sayfullo Saipov used to mow down the cyclists and pedestrians on the cycle path October 31, 2017 in Tribeca

This was the rented Home Depot truck Saipov used to mow down the cyclists and pedestrians on the cycle path 

While de Blasio thanked the family and friends of loved ones who attended, it is not clear exactly whose relatives out of those that were killed were able to get there. 

Only two of the eight people killed were America. 

Ann-Laure Decadt was visiting from Belgium and friends Diego Enrique Angelini, Ariel Erlij, Hernan Ferruchi, Hernan Diego Mendoza and Alejandro Damian Pagrucco were all visiting from Argentina.

Terrorist Sayfullo Saipov remains in custody 

Sayfullo Saipov remains in custody 

The mayor's office would not clarify whether any of their relatives attended the event. 

Despite it being unclear whether any of their families or friends went, de Blasio read a portion of his speech in Spanish for the Argentinian victims. 

Hugh Hales-Tooke is a friend of Cleeves' mother. He attended in her absence because she could not arrange to be there with the short notice given by the mayor's office. 

'It is so traumatic for her to be in the city today that she is in the Boston area and wasn’t told about this memorial service until 4 p.m. yesterday. 

'She’s very hurt. She was very hurt,' he told The New York Post. 

He was outraged by the mayor's speech, saying: 'I didn’t hear a thing about the lives, the people. Nicholas Cleves was born and bred in New York. 

'He loved this city. His mother’s destroyed by this.

'I thought that was what this was about, that this is a moment where we would say, "You know, we care, we really do care," but I didn’t get the feeling. [The mayor] said this attack has been in our hearts for a year... Really, do you believe that?' he said. 

He refused to shake the mayor's hand afterwards and was who shouted out the correct pronunciation of Cleeves' name when de Blasio got it wrong. 

Saipov remains in custody.  

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