There might be an answer as to why Mayor Michael Bloomberg was MIA for most of the day in the aftermath of the Metro-North trail derailment.
As first responders were on scene around 7:30 a.m. at Sunday’s Metro-North derailment that killed four people and injured more than 60, Bloomberg was teeing off at a luxury resort in Bermuda, according to The Wall Street Journal.
It wasn’t until about four hours after he was briefed on the deadly derailment that he finally left the golf course and hopped a plane to the city, though the mayor told reporters Sunday night in New York that he was told about the situation about a half-hour after it happened, the Journal reported.
"What can I do? I’m not a professional firefighter or a police officer. There’s nothing I can do," Bloomberg told reporters Sunday night outside St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was visiting victims.
"What I can do is make sure that the right people from New York City – our police commissioner, our fire commissioner and our emergency management commissioner – are there and that they have all the resources that they want."
"We responded in the ways that I think the city should be proud of our emergency first responders," Bloomberg said. "They did exactly what they are supposed to do."
Hizzoner has less than a month left in office until Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio takes over.
De Blasio, however, also was a no-show at the scene yesterday, but he said he was in contact with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and this "thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of those killed and injured" in the derailment.
