{"id":127141,"date":"2026-02-08T23:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/127141\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T23:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:24:10","slug":"nypd-police-academy-to-be-renamed-after-steven-mcdonald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/127141\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD Police Academy to be renamed after Steven McDonald"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NYPD Police Academy will soon be touchingly renamed <\/a>after one of the department\u2019s most storied fallen heroes \u2014 Detective Steven McDonald.<\/p>\n

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the sprawling 30-acre Queens campus, which is responsible for the training of New York\u2019s Finest, will be named after McDonald because he is \u201ctruly the embodiment of who we want our officers to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteven McDonald didn\u2019t just exceed the standards \u2014 his life reshaped how the public understands the NYPD\u2019s work and how the department understands itself,\u201d Tisch said of the hero cop \u2014 famous for his advocacy after being shot by a teen in 1986 and paralyzed from the waist down, then publicly forgiving his attacker.<\/p>\n

Det. Steven McDonald, who died in 2017, was shot and paralyzed in 1986. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s widow Patti Ann and son NYPD Cpt. Conor McDonald. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remember not only the courage that he showed after his life was changed unimaginably, but the character Detective McDonald demonstrated through his refusal to be defined by bitterness, and his commitment to dignity and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that every officer who walks through the doors of the Steven D. McDonald Police Academy begins their career with a clear understanding of the kind of officer this department hopes they strive to be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The academy\u2019s renaming is expected to be completed by July 16 \u2013 42 years to the day that McDonald himself joined the academy \u2013 which his wife described as \u201cone of the most important days of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonald had only two years on the job in July 1986 when a 15-year-old robbery suspect shot him three times in Central Park \u2013 with one of the bullets shattering the 29-year-old cop\u2019s spine, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.<\/p>\n

McDonald, though wheelchair-bound and hooked up to a breathing device, lived for over three more decades<\/a>, spreading a message of forgiveness, even to the teen who nearly took his life, Shavod Jones.<\/p>\n

The renamed academy is expected to be completed July 16, 1984 \u2013 42 years to the day McDonald himself joined the academy. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n

Tisch told the late hero officer\u2019s family last week of her decision to have McDonald\u2019s name grace the building that marks the beginning of a police officer\u2019s journey.\u00a0The fallen officer died in 2017 at age 59.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe knew Steven throughout the years,\u201d said the hero detective\u2019s wife, Patti Ann McDonald, to The Post. \u201c[To] hear her say how important it is for the future police officers to know Steven\u2019s story \u2026 you could have just knocked me over when she told us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Commissioner Tisch] was so gracious \u2013 and it wasn\u2019t about her doing this,\u201d Patti Ann said of the honor. \u201cIt was really about, you know, Steven, and how much she felt that this was something very important to do for the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m speechless.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This is] the last thing I would ever have thought was going to happen. Steve would be just very humbled by this, very, very humbled. Very humbled as we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonald entered the original academy \u2013 which was then located in Gramercy Park in Manhattan \u2013 on July 16, 1984. The modern-day campus in College Point was completed in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McDonald notably forgave his shooter and became a fervent advocate for nonviolent conflict resolution. FREELANCE<\/p>\n

After McDonald finished his field training, he was assigned to the Central Park Precinct.<\/p>\n

After he was shot, McDonald made it his mission<\/a> to become a fervent advocate for nonviolent conflict resolution \u2013 from youth violence at home to Northern Island, Bosnia and Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my dad lived the example of what a New York City police officer is all about,\u201d said his son, NYPD Capt. Conor McDonald<\/a>, now an executive officer for the department\u2019s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot only of honor, integrity \u2014 but also of bridging the gap between the police department, and the community, and he did that as a living example of sacrifice,\u201d Conor said.<\/p>\n

McDonald \u201cbled for the NYPD,\u201d his son said, and he was also a US Navy veteran and a devout Catholic.<\/p>\n

A rendering shows the academy bearing Det. McDonald\u2019s name. Eric Laignel<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my dad woke up every day, he prayed to God that he\u2019s still alive,\u201d the younger McDonald said. \u201cHe lived in honor of his family. \u2026 And he always lived in honor of the men and women that died before him and died after him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The elder McDonald passed away from respiratory issues in 2017 due to his injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just pray to God that his name and legacy will live on forever, and by the police commissioner just giving us this gracious honor of naming the academy after my dad, I think it will,\u201d his son said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, you know, 20, 30 years from now\u2026 men and women will enter the police academy, and they might think, who is this guy, Steve McDonald,\u201d Conor said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they\u2019ll see what happened to my dad, and the way he lived his life after being shot, and \u2026 [be] inspired to live a life of service, just like my father to make New York City a safe place to live, and the greatest city to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shavod Jones was sentenced to nine years in prison and died in a motorcycle accident shortly after his release in 1995.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NYPD Police Academy will soon be touchingly renamed after one of the department\u2019s most storied fallen heroes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[27758,5302,57,9,24,55,54,56,103,122,54961,58],"class_list":["post-127141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-detectives","tag-jessica-tisch","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-nypd","tag-queens","tag-steven-mcdonald","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}