Max
05-23-2003, 02:16 PM
By forgiving, paralyzed N.Y. officer finds hope
Thursday, May 22, 2003
By STEPHANIE HOOPER Telegraph Staff, hoopers@telegraph-nh.com
NASHUA - For New York City Police Detective Steven McDonald there are no coincidences. Only God-incidents.
About 100 people gathered at St. Christopher Church at 62 Manchester St. on Wednesday night to hear McDonald talk about the importance of forgiving others, and the God-incident helped him to forgive the man who shot him and left him for dead.
The speech was one of four McDonald is scheduled for in New Hampshire this week.
Sitting in wheelchair at the front of the church, McDonald spoke between labored breaths about the incident that left him quadriplegic.
Newly married and expecting his first child, McDonald had only been a police officer for 22 months when the teenager shot him in Central Park.
He was working on an anti-crime unit in the park when the incident occurred in July 1986.
McDonald and his partner, both in plainclothes, had split up after chasing three youths that fit the description of the perpetrators of some robberies in the area.
After finding the youths behind a tree, McDonald said he began questioning them about their identities and purpose in the park that day, McDonald said he noticed a bulge in the sock of one of the youths.
Admitting a rookie mistake, he said he turned his back on the other two youths to investigate the suspicious contents of the third boy's sock.
As he bent down, McDonald said he the tallest of the boys move around and step in closer to him.
The boy was 15-year-old Shavod Jones, a troubled youth from Harlem, he said.
Looking up at Jones, McDonald saw the barrel of a small handgun pointed at his face.
"I knew what was about to happen," McDonald told the spellbound audience.
"All I could get out was the word 'No.' "
The first bullet entered above McDonald's right eye, sending him to the ground.
Immediately in pain and shock from the blast, McDonald said he watched as Jones stood over him and shot two more rounds into his neck.
The last thing he remembered from the incident was his approaching partner yelling distress signals into his radio.
"So within a very short time, a matter of seconds, I went from being one of New York's finest to a victim of violent crime. A statistic," McDonald said.
Recovering in a New York's Bellevue Hospital, paralyzed from the neck down, McDonald told the audience of the anger and sadness he experienced in those early days as he coped with the realization that his life was forever changed.
"There were too many questions and no answers," McDonald said.
"I was angry and in a lot of pain. 'Why would some teenager do this to me?' "
Still in the hospital, McDonald said he began to abuse morphine as a way to escape his situation when his wife intervened.
"She said 'Is this the way you want to live the rest of your life?' "
It was a transforming moment, McDonald said, that began his journey to become closer to God and begin his new life.
McDonald said he did not want to take the anger he was feeling into his new role as a father.
"Where a bullet failed to kill me, those difficult emotions would have overwhelmed me," McDonald said.
Knowing that the baptism of his son Conor would be a press event, McDonald chose the moment to publicly announce his forgiveness for his assailant.
McDonald, now a detective about to celebrate his 19th year with the department, has since given many speeches nationwide on the power of forgiveness.
Jones, who received a 9-year sentence for attempted murder, eventually called McDonald at his home in 1990 and apologized to him and his family for the incident.
The two men never met. In 1995, three days after being released from prison, Jones was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Stephanie Hooper can be reached at 594-6413
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Content © 2003 Telegraph of Nashua
Software © 1998-2003 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/Main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=354&ArticleID=80771
Thursday, May 22, 2003
By STEPHANIE HOOPER Telegraph Staff, hoopers@telegraph-nh.com
NASHUA - For New York City Police Detective Steven McDonald there are no coincidences. Only God-incidents.
About 100 people gathered at St. Christopher Church at 62 Manchester St. on Wednesday night to hear McDonald talk about the importance of forgiving others, and the God-incident helped him to forgive the man who shot him and left him for dead.
The speech was one of four McDonald is scheduled for in New Hampshire this week.
Sitting in wheelchair at the front of the church, McDonald spoke between labored breaths about the incident that left him quadriplegic.
Newly married and expecting his first child, McDonald had only been a police officer for 22 months when the teenager shot him in Central Park.
He was working on an anti-crime unit in the park when the incident occurred in July 1986.
McDonald and his partner, both in plainclothes, had split up after chasing three youths that fit the description of the perpetrators of some robberies in the area.
After finding the youths behind a tree, McDonald said he began questioning them about their identities and purpose in the park that day, McDonald said he noticed a bulge in the sock of one of the youths.
Admitting a rookie mistake, he said he turned his back on the other two youths to investigate the suspicious contents of the third boy's sock.
As he bent down, McDonald said he the tallest of the boys move around and step in closer to him.
The boy was 15-year-old Shavod Jones, a troubled youth from Harlem, he said.
Looking up at Jones, McDonald saw the barrel of a small handgun pointed at his face.
"I knew what was about to happen," McDonald told the spellbound audience.
"All I could get out was the word 'No.' "
The first bullet entered above McDonald's right eye, sending him to the ground.
Immediately in pain and shock from the blast, McDonald said he watched as Jones stood over him and shot two more rounds into his neck.
The last thing he remembered from the incident was his approaching partner yelling distress signals into his radio.
"So within a very short time, a matter of seconds, I went from being one of New York's finest to a victim of violent crime. A statistic," McDonald said.
Recovering in a New York's Bellevue Hospital, paralyzed from the neck down, McDonald told the audience of the anger and sadness he experienced in those early days as he coped with the realization that his life was forever changed.
"There were too many questions and no answers," McDonald said.
"I was angry and in a lot of pain. 'Why would some teenager do this to me?' "
Still in the hospital, McDonald said he began to abuse morphine as a way to escape his situation when his wife intervened.
"She said 'Is this the way you want to live the rest of your life?' "
It was a transforming moment, McDonald said, that began his journey to become closer to God and begin his new life.
McDonald said he did not want to take the anger he was feeling into his new role as a father.
"Where a bullet failed to kill me, those difficult emotions would have overwhelmed me," McDonald said.
Knowing that the baptism of his son Conor would be a press event, McDonald chose the moment to publicly announce his forgiveness for his assailant.
McDonald, now a detective about to celebrate his 19th year with the department, has since given many speeches nationwide on the power of forgiveness.
Jones, who received a 9-year sentence for attempted murder, eventually called McDonald at his home in 1990 and apologized to him and his family for the incident.
The two men never met. In 1995, three days after being released from prison, Jones was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Stephanie Hooper can be reached at 594-6413
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Content © 2003 Telegraph of Nashua
Software © 1998-2003 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/Main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=354&ArticleID=80771