A street bisecting Central Park has been named for Steven McDonald, the NYPD officer from Malverne who forgave the teenager who shot and paralyzed him in the park three decades earlier. McDonald, who died in January of a heart attack connected to the injuries, was honored Wednesday less than 25 blocks south of where he was shot.
“Nineteen eighty-six does not seem so long ago, yet when I look around this beautiful city I realize how far along we all have come,” his widow, Patricia McDonald, said, recalling a very different city in the mid-1980s, one plagued with crime and violence.
The 86th Street Transverse connecting Manhattan’s west and east sides now also bears the name “Detective First Grade Steven D. McDonald,” on a blue sign unveiled by Patricia McDonald, mayor of Malverne, and son, Conor, an NYPD sergeant.
Buoyed by his story of forgiveness, recovery and hope, the paralyzed cop became an inspirational speaker within the NYPD and beyond.
