Hero Cop Steven McDonald Honored With Central Park Street Naming

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Steven McDonald, one of the NYPD's most widely recognized heroes for barely surviving a 1986 shooting and publicly forgiving the teenaged shooter, was honored Wednesday morning in Central Park.

The 86th Street Transverse, a road that cuts through the center of the park and is home to the NYPD's Central Park Precinct, was renamed Steven McDonald Way in a ceremony attended by the mayor, police commissioner and members of McDonald's family.

"I have never met a better New Yorker than Detective Steven McDonald, never met a better human being. I never met someone who lived his values more," Mayor Bill de Blasio said during Wednesday's ceremony. "And you know there are many people of faith but it’s – it’s an everyday challenge to put faith into action. Steven McDonald put his faith into action every single day without fail, and that is something to honor, that is something to celebrate."

Before he had even served two years on the force, in 1986, McDonald was shot and nearly killed by a 15-year-old suspected bicycle thief in Central Park. The young officer survived but lived the rest of his life as a quadriplegic and could breathe only with assistance.

McDonald famously offered his forgiveness to Shavod Jones, the 15-year-old who shot him in Central Park.

"We’re here at the precinct where Steven worked, where the course of his life changed in an instant. This is where Steven first transformed that senseless act of violence more than 31 years ago into an overpowering message of hope, forgiveness, and love," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said Wednesday.

McDonald died at the age of 59 in January after going into cardiac arrest when mucus clogged the permanent respirator he used to breathe. McDonald was remembered by remembered at a funeral mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral that was attended by elected officials, sports heroes and television stars.

Watch below for a replay of the funeral service, courtesy of St. Patrick's Cathedral:

Photo by New York City Mayoral Photography Office