Friends! How many of us have them? 

Eric Adams seems like a really good friend, a real ride-or-die. When his buds are in trouble, he has no problem using his mayoral pulpit to stick up for their honor—and defending NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey against abuse of power allegations that have been substantiated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board is only the latest example of Adams's chivalry.

"Chief Maddrey is not being accused of a criminal action, let's be clear of that," Adams told reporters at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday, as reported by the New York Post. "I don't want a 30-year record all of a sudden to be tarnished, because there was an investigation on him. He added that he was "proud" of Maddrey and "happy that Chief Maddrey is my chief of the department."

The CITY reports that Maddrey confirmed to the CCRB that he voided an arrest of a former NYPD officer charged with menacing and pursuing a group of teenagers with a gun in Brownsville after they hit his security camera with a basketball. After voiding the arrest, the CCRB's review shows that Maddrey told the precinct sergeant that the three kids should have been "arrested for criminal misconduct." 

Maybe our mayor sees a little of himself in Maddrey. Google "Adams defends" for a trip down memory lane of Adams's tendency to be a knight-in-shining-armor when it comes to his pals, especially those who are cops. It's really touching: He's defended cops whose statements about a teen rapper's arrest were "wholly discredited" by a Bronx judge, a cop who punched a woman in the face, cops who arrested subway fruit vendors, a cop fired for inviting Cardi B to perform at NYPD event, his gun czar who was accused of nepotism, and of course, himself for hiring his own brother as his chief of security.

If only the Knicks had defense like that. 

Some more touching links for your 4/20:

• Adams is not defending President Biden (in this case) for what he says is the federal government's scant financial help with asylum seekers.
• Bike lanes in front of BAM? Not if they have something to say about it.
• Your compost isn't actually being composted, it's becoming gas.
• Raising taxes on those making more than five million dollars is "not on the table right now", according to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
• The City has agreed to a $53 million settlement over its solitary confinement practices at Rikers that violated City rules.
• Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg says he's investigating the cause of a parking garage collapse that killed at least one person and that destroyed the car a man was living out of.
• Former President Donald Trump says he may skip appearing in court over E. Jean Carroll's rape allegations against him because he cares about New York City and doesn't want to make traffic worse.
• Caitlin Hannigan has been confirmed to the New York Court of Appeals.
• Brooklyn Republicans are really into a guy who said he hates Brooklyn.
• New York is apparently a sausage party…in terms of trees.
• Free service may come to 10 New York bus routes.
• And finally, yikes!