The NYPD renamed the Police Academy in Queens after a fallen detective who became a symbol of courage and forgiveness.
The NYPD renamed 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.
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.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," his widow, Patti Ann, said.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. The renaming ceremony was the first time some of these young officers heard the story of Detective McDonald. "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. The official renaming will take place on July 16th, which 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.Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo,
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