NYPD set to rename Queens Police Academy after fallen detective Steven McDonald
QUEENS (WABC) -- The NYPD is set to officially rename the Police Academy in Queens after a fallen detective who became a symbol of courage and forgiveness.
Detective Steven D. McDonald was shot and paralyzed from the neck down in 1986 by a teenager who was stealing a bike in Central Park.
(video in the media player above is from a previous report)
Despite his injuries, McDonald went on to famously forgive the teenager.
He died at the age of 59 in 2017.
His son Conor and widow, Patti Ann McDonald, shared their story of love, loss and commitment with NYPD recruits inside a building that will bear their family name.
"Men and women that I've met through the years that knew my dad in the academy and before he was shot, they called him Father Steven because he gave the shirt off his back for anybody," NYPD Captain Conor McDonald, Steven's son, said.
In July of 1986, a 15-year-old robbery suspect shot the then-29-year-old officer.
McDonald spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair and needed a breathing device but never lost his will to live.
"It enabled him to get out there and speak to schools and police officers about his life," Patti Ann, said.
Patti Ann was pregnant with Conor when her husband was gravely injured.
His son Conor became an NYPD Captain.
"My dad can go to 125th Street in Harlem, he can go to Chinatown, he can go to Breezy Point and he can connect with anybody. That was the most magnificent thing about my dad," McDonald said.
"Two weeks before he was shot he had stopped a couple of teenagers for doing a similar and he went to their home and gave them his phone number. He would talk to teenagers versus trying to do anything other than helping them," Patti Ann said.
This ceremony is especially poignant. July 16 is the day Detective McDonald entered the academy in 1984.
"I miss Steven every single day but I get so much strength knowing how blessed I was to have him for over 30 and a half years," Patti Ann said back in February when it was announced that the academy would be named in his honor.
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