By Barry Williams and Colin Mixson
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — The NYPD police academy will be renamed after Det. Steven McDonald, a fallen hero of the department who channeled the agony of three devastating gunshot wounds into an enduring message of peace and forgiveness.
“Across the history of the NYPD, there have been countless officers who have exceeded the standards set for them. Steven McDonald didn’t just exceed the standards, his life reshaped how the public understands the NYPD’s work and how the department understands itself,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters outside the academy Monday.
“Det. Steven McDonald is truly the embodiment of who we want our officers to be.”
McDonald was only 20 months on the job when a 15-year-old suspect, Shavod Jones, opened fire on him in Central Park on July 12, 1986, striking McDonald in the face, neck and wrist, and paralyzing him instantly.
The third-generation cop survived wounds that doctors warned his family were likely fatal, but he lost the use of his arms and legs, and became a living symbol of the sacrifice NYPD officers must be willing to make.
But the humble McDonald always celebrated life, and was quick to remind sympathizers of those officers who made the ultimate sacrifice, according to his son.
“He reminded me every night, especially when I was upset about his condition, that he lived for the men and women that went before him that gave their lives for the city,” NYPD Captain Conor McDonald said outside the academy. “That’s one thing my dad made sure that when he woke up everyday, he was living for them as well.”
The wounded cop stunned his fellow officers by delivering a public absolution of his attacker on the day of his son’s christening
“I’m sometimes angry at the teenage boy who shot me. But more often I feel sorry for him… I forgive him,” McDonald’s statement said, read by his wife Patti Ann McDonald.
He would spend the rest of his life carrying that message of forgiveness, which would bring him into the orbits of President George W. Bush , Pope John Paul II and Nelson Mandela, and lead him to Northern Ireland, Bosnia and the Middle East on missions of peace.
“My simple understanding is that God has asked me to be a witness, to do his will in this world,” McDonald told the Daily News before the 25th anniversary of the shooting. “And I think that’s my life.”
McDonald died of a heart attack in 2017, with the city’s medical examiner ruling his death a homicide, stating his demise was caused by complications from the 1986 shooting.
“I’m not usually one that’s speechless, but when (Tisch) said she was naming the academy after Steven, I was speechless,” said McDonald’s widow, Patti Ann McDonald. “Completely blown away, honored and humbled that nine years after his passing, that she thought of doing something like this for us, and most importantly for Steven’s memory and for the future of police officers.”
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