The New York Police Department has announced plans to rename its Police Academy in memory of long-time Malverne resident Detective Steven McDonald.
McDonald became known nationwide for his messages of forgiveness and peace after being shot in Central Park on July 12, 1986, which left him a quadriplegic. He died on Jan. 10, 2017, at 59 after suffering from respiratory complications.
McDonald was breathing with the help of a respirator for 30 years after the shooting, while still remaining employed by the NYPD, offering support for wounded officers and appearing from time to time during roll calls.
“Steven McDonald is truly the embodiment of who we want our officers to be,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in her State of the NYPD address on Feb. 10. “Going forward, every officer who walks through those doors will begin their career with a clear understanding of the kind of officer that this department hopes that they will strive to be.”
The NYPD Police Academy, an eight-story, high-tech training space based in College Point, Queens and opened in 2014, will be renamed the Detective Steven D. McDonald Police Academy. The official renaming will take place on July 16, 2026, which is 42 years after McDonald joined the academy and 40 years after he was shot.
Tisch described McDonald as “a life that reshaped how the public understands this work and how this department understands itself.” She also praised “the character he demonstrated in his refusal to be defined by bitterness, and his commitment to dignity and forgiveness.”
Tisch shared the news with McDonald’s widow, Patti Ann, and son, Conor, on Jan. 29, which was Conor’s birthday.
“I’m not one that is usually speechless, but she rendered me speechless,” Patti Ann, a former Malverne mayor who served the village from 1996 to 2019, said. “(Tisch) said how important Steven’s life and legacy was, his story about forgiveness, how he lived his life after being injured, and how important it is for future police officers to know his story.
“I was completely taken aback,” she added. “His name is going to be on the New York City Police Academy and every police officer that goes to train there is going to not only remember Steven and what he gave to the City of New York, but all the police officers who gave their lives for the city.”
Conor, who’s an NYPD captain, said, “My father felt it was his mission to keep going, to be a living representative for all the members of the NYPD who never made it home. My father wanted to make sure that their lives were never forgotten.”
McDonald was born in Queens Village in 1957 before his family moved to Rockville Centre seven years later. One of eight children, McDonald was a third-generation New York City police officer. His grandfather died in the line of duty, and a dozen members of his family also have been part of the NYPD. McDonald was a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman for four years before he joined the police force in 1984.
He married Patti Ann in November 1985, and only eight months later, after just two years as an officer, McDonald was shot in Central Park while investigating a bicycle theft. Fifteen-year-old Shavod Jones shot him three times, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.
In a 2016 interview with the Herald, McDonald, a Catholic, said he had a spiritual awakening following the shooting. He publicly forgave Jones several months after the shooting, although the two never met. Jones was killed in a motorcycle accident three days after being released from prison in 1995, having served nine years of a 10-year sentence.
“Not only did he forgive him once, my dad forgave him every single day,” Conor said. “The pain my father experienced after the shooting was excruciating. He depended on a machine to breathe, he couldn’t move by himself. My dad never let that destroy him. My father’s message was not only forgiveness, but about love and nonviolence.”
Soon after the shooting, McDonald began speaking to community groups, schools and other organizations about the power of God and compassion, and did so until his death. McDonald traveled the world speaking about the power of forgiveness in places such as Northern Ireland, the Middle East, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“My dad truly believed that the grace of God gave him the power to overcome that experience,” Conor said. “He wanted to connect with people. He was able to create peace and love in the world. He was just a man that had a wholesome heart and wanted to help.”
In 1989, McDonald wrote “The Steven McDonald Story” with the help of his wife and writer E.J. Kahn III.
After his death, several memorials were dedicated to McDonald, including a portion of the Southern State Parkway, named the Detective Steven McDonald Memorial Highway, and the Steven McDonald Garden of Forgiveness in Malverne’s Westwood Park.
“Detective Steven McDonald is not only a legend in our community but a world icon on what it means to forgive and live one’s life for others,” Malverne Mayor Tim Sullivan said. “It is only befitting that the City of New York is bestowing this wonderful honor, in his memory, to a department he so loved and dedicated his life to.”
Patti Ann continues to support the NYPD through her participation in Survivors of the Shield, an organization that aids widows of police officers. She also continues to spread her husband’s message of love and forgiveness.
“Steven would be extremely humbled to know the commissioner thought of him and wanted to name the academy after him,” she said. “To have his name on that building is just a tremendous honor.”
Conor said that in the future, “most of us who personally knew my father won’t be around, but the recruits who go to the academy and see the name Steve McDonald, they might wonder who that guy is, look into his story and see how he lived his life as a police officer and detective.”
