Patti Ann McDonald
Patti Ann McDonald is the widow of Steven McDonald –a NYPD officer who was left quadriplegic in 1986 following a shooting. Steven McDonald died age 59 on January 10, 2017.
On July 12, 1986 Patti Ann McDonald’s husband was shot three times after he responded to a robbery report in Central Park. At the time 15-year-old Shavod Jones nearly killed him after he opened fire hitting Steven in the head, above his eye; a second bullet hit his throat and a third shattered his spine.
At the time Steven McDonald was just a regular officer doing his job. He was a former U.S. Navy hospital corpsman and third generation police officer who came from the middle-class suburbs of Long Island’s Nassau County.
He literally went from being an active cop to an incapable crime victim.
The doctors worked on him for over 40-hours and Steven was left paralyzed from the neck down. He spent the next 16-months learning to live again in the hospital.
The shooting was widely covered by media after it was said it was a miracle that he survived. Steven McDonald went on to become a symbol of forgiveness. Months after the shooting he stated he had spoken to his shooter and thought they never met, he said he had forgiven him.
The forgiveness process gave him renewed strength.
Steven became a sought-after speaker at schools in and around New York City, holding entire auditoriums captive as he retells his story and launches dialogue on the broader issues surrounding it.
Patricia Ann Norris-McDonald is the mayor of the Village of Malverne. She is the daughter of former mayor John Francis Norris. After her father died in 1996, she completed his term as mayor.
She had been married to Steven for less than year when the shooting took place. At the time the newlywed was pregnant with the couple’s only child.
Six months after the shooting she gave birth to a son, Conor McDonald.
Patti Ann like her husband, also became an example of hope and strength. She supported her husband, becoming his main caregiver while raising their son at the same time. Though it was hard for her to forgive the young man who shot her husband, she says
I learned long ago that in order for us to get along as a couple, I had to let go of my anger. Otherwise Steven and I wouldn’t have been able to go on ourselves. Because when something like that festers inside of you, it just destroys you from the inside out.
Patti Ann McDonald, is in her second term as the village mayor, being elected since 2006. She was interviewed in Washington, D.C. as a potential candidate to replace Rep. Carolyn McCarthy in Congress back in 2014.
In the end Nassau County district attorney Kathleen Rice, was chosen to run.
Patti Ann is a well-known figure in local politics, having served as one of the village’s four trustees for 11 years.
Their son Conor, followed his father’s footsteps and joined the NYPD in 2010.
We send our condolences.
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