NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- An NYPD detective who was shot during a botched robbery in Brooklyn in 1990 died over the weekend after spending 33 years in a coma.
Det. Troy Patterson died Saturday night at a New Jersey rehab center, according to police officials. He was 60.
"The NYPD mourns his loss and extends our continued support to his family & friends," NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell tweeted.
Patterson was off-duty and washing his car in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Jan. 16, 1990, when three young men demanded $20 from him. When he resisted, a 15-year-old in the group pulled a gun and shot him in the head.
When he was shot, Patterson was 27 years old and a six-year veteran of the department working out of the 60th Precinct. He spent more than half of his life in a vegetative state, never awaking from the coma. He was promoted to detective in 2016.
"Detective Troy Patterson was a hero of New York City, who inspired hundreds of fellow Detectives to continue his courageous, important crime-fighting work," said Paul DiGiacomo, the president of the Detectives' Endowment Association.
"Troy’s legacy will forever be one of service and sacrifice. The DEA will ensure he and his family are never forgotten," DiGiacomo said.
The 15-year-old shooter and his two accomplices, 20 and 17 years old, were convicted on various charges in the shooting and have since been released from prison, according to the Daily News.
Related
Related
Related
