Generally Speaking: Detective McDonald to be remembered with top patriot award
The Long Island Assembly, the patriotic arm of the Knights of Columbus, has announced that NYPD Detective Steven McDonald will receive posthumously the group’s prestigious 2017 annual Pro Patria Award.
McDonald, a long-term quadriplegic, died from a heart attack on January 10, 2017. A devout Roman Catholic and member of the Knights of Columbus, the hero cop, also a U.S. Navy veteran, was shot three times by a 15-year-old in Central Park back on July 12, 1986.
His son Conor, a NYPD sergeant, has agreed to lead Brooklyn’s 112th annual American Independence Day Parade in memory of his father. McDonald’s wife Patricia Ann will receive the award on his behalf at a brief ceremony inside the church on Court Street, on June 24, prior to the start of the parade.