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Feb. 22-28, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
ALSO COVERING ELMHURST, JACKSON HEIGHTS, LONG ISLAND CITY, MASPETH, MIDDLE VILLAGE, REGO PARK, SUNNYSIDE
Thousands salute fallen detective
BY TIMOTHY BOLGER, MARK
HALLUM AND ROBERT
POZARYCKI
Thousands of Police
officers from across the
country lined the streets of
Hampton Bays on Wednesday
to salute fallen New York
City police Det. Brian
Simonsen at his funeral,
where he was remembered for
his dedication.
The 42-year-old was a
member of the NYPD’s 102nd
Precinct Detective Squad,
where he worked his entire
19 years on the job, which
NYPD Commissioner James
O’Neill noted is a rarity
these days. Simonsen drove
140 miles round trip from his
home in Calverton to work
in Queens.
“Brian was the one you
were grateful to see arrive at
the scene,” O’Neill said during
the Catholic funeral Mass at
the Church of Saint Rosalie.
“He had a knack for making
people feel like his best friend
… Brian knew how to talk to
people, and more importantly,
he knew how to listen.”
High-ranking elected
Highway before he was taken
to Jamesport Cemetery, where
he was laid to rest beside his
sister and father.
officials and dignitaries
turned out to show their
“All of us who came to
respects, as did members of
know Brian have come to
the community, who lined the
understand how exceptional
streets to say goodbye to the
he truly was,” New York City
detective as his procession
Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “He
slowly rolled down Montauk
was devoted to his precinct.”
Vol. 7 No. 8 60 total pages
Simonsen, who made 600
arrests during his career, was
fatally struck by friendly fire
at the scene of a robbery in
Richmond Hill last week.
NYPD officers responding
to a robbery at a T-Mobile
store on Atlantic Avenue in
Richmond Hill shot Simonsen
and his partner, Sgt. Matthew
Gorman, at 6:24 p.m. Feb.
12, police said. Simonsen
sustained a gunshot wound to
the chest that proved fatal. The
sergeant, a Seaford resident,
was hit in the leg and was
treated at Jamaica Hospital.
The alleged robber,
27-year-old career criminal
Christopher Ransom, and his
accused lookout, 25-year-old
Jagger Freeman, were charged
with murder, robbery, assault,
and weapons possession.
While wearing a mask
and displaying an imitation
gun, Ransom allegedly forced
two workers into the rear
of the store in order to steal
cash and phones, according
to authorities.
Police went into the
T-Mobile store and after
spotting cops coming in,
authorities said, Ransom
allegedly pointed the
imitation gun at them and
charged, causing the officers
to exit the store.
Ransom allegedly
continued brandishing the
weapon after stepping outside
the shop and seeing police.
The officers opened fire after
Ransom appeared to be firing
his weapon.
At Wednesday’s funeral,
Simonsen’s cousin, fellow
NYPD officer Sean Peterson,
said it was “the proudest day of
our lives” when they fulfilled
their childhood dreams of
becoming sworn officers.
“He died doing what he
loved,” Peterson said.
Noting that Simonsen was
known for living life to its fullest,
Peterson remembered his cousin
and colleague with a quote from
President Abraham Lincoln:
“It’s not the years in your life that
count. It is the life in your years.”
Thousands of police officers from across the country lined Montauk Highway to salute NYPD Det.
Brian Simonsen’s funeral procession. Photo by Timothy Bolger
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