Off-duty, motorcycle riding police offi cer killed by truck
BY STEVEN GOODSTEIN
An off-duty police offi cer was
fatally injured this week.
On the morning of Monday,
September 16, NYPD offi cer, Inspector
Michael McGrath, driving
his motorcycle south on East
Tremont Avenue collided with a
truck carrying a roll off container
travelling northbound.
McGrath, who was off-duty at
the time of the incident, was struck
at 7:50 a.m. by the truck as it made
a left from East Tremont Avenue
onto Waterbury Avenue.
According to sources, McGrath,
a lifelong Bronx resident, was coming
from his apartment on Fowler
Avenue in Morris Park, located
within the confi nes of the 49th Precinct.
He was planning to meet his
21-year old daughter, Samantha,
for breakfast that morning.
The 56-year old police offi cer,
who was in cardiac arrest, was
rushed to Jacobi Medical Center
immediately following the incident.
He died a short time later as a
result of the injuries he sustained.
The scene of the accident was
closed off with yellow crime scene
tape as offi cers investigated and
surveyed the area. The driver of
the IWT Transport Inc. truck, a
hazardous waste and disposal service
based in Oakland, NJ, was not
injured.
McGrath had 30 years of experience
with the NYPD and, at the
time of his death, was the commanding
offi cer of the NYPD Cadet
Corps, an internship program
which encourages NYC college students
to join the police department
once they graduate from school.
The program also provides assistance
with students’ school tuition
as well as an hourly income.
He was in charge of the Cadet
Corps since 2007. Of the nearly
2,000 trainees under his command,
1,541 went on to become NYPD offi
cers, with the remaining cadets
still in training.
He was also instrumental in the
fruition of the new Police Academy
in College Point, Queens, which
opened in January 2015. The Policy
Academy houses the Cadet Corps.
According to the police report,
the truck driver remained at the
scene following the accident. As
of press time, it was not clear if
charges will be fi led against the
truck driver.
“He was my mentor - I learned
pretty much everything about
this job from him,” said Kenneth
Granowski, sergeant offi cer of the
NYPD’s First Deputy Commissioner’s
offi ce, who shared an offi ce
with McGrath for fi ve years with
the NYPD’s Personnel Bureau in
the early 2000s.
Thesera J. Shortell, chief of
the NYPD’s Training Bureau
said, “Everybody loved him - he
had such a positive outlook on
life and he had strong compassion
for others, which was a perfect
fi t for his role within the
NYPD.”
Shortell added that it was always
McGrath’s goal to become
an NYPD police offi cer.
“It is with great sadness that
we mourn the passing of inspector
Michael McGrath. He was our
mentor and our leader - he treated
his staff and Police Cadets like
family,” read the Twitter page of
the NYPD Cadets on Monday following
McGrath’s death.
Aside from his work with
the NYPD and the Cadet Corps,
McGrath was an avid hunter and
enjoyed carpentry.
BRONX WEEKLY S www.BXTimes.com eptember 22, 2019 8
An IWT Transport, Inc. truck collided with a motorcycle on East Tremont Avenue, killing 56-year old NYPD offi cer Michael
McGrath. Photo by Edwin Soto
/www.BXTimes.com
