Honor for a dancing cop hero
IT WAS THE TWERK seen round the world — a 12-second video clip of a straight NYPD cop dancing with a Pride Parade reveler that quickly became a shining example of the department’s ever-improving relationship with the city’s LGBT community. This Wednesday, that video will take center stage as the NYPD’s Gay Officers Action League posthumously honors the cop in that clip who recently died of a 9/11 related cancer.
Police Officer Michael Hance’s family will be in attendance when GOAL acknowledges the fallen cop with their Ally Award for his impromptu dance as he stood a post during the city’s 2015 Pride Parade.
The award will be given out at the 2017 NYPD Pride Celebration at 1 Police Plaza.
“People look at what he did and say, ‘OK it’s a (short) clip’ — but that video was viewed nearly 10 million times,” said GOAL president Brian Downey.
Hance died of 9/11 related cancer in March. The 44-year-old cop, who worked out of the 111th Precinct station house in Bayside, Queens, was diagnosed with brain cancer in November after he fell in front of his home and complained of feeling dizzy. As he fought the disease, the cancer spread to his lungs, liver and chest.
Hance lifted the city’s spirits two years ago when a cell phone video that showed him dancing, on duty and in uniform, with reveler Aaron Santis at the Manhattan Pride Parade went viral.
Other honorees receiving awards on Wednesday include NYPD Deputy Commissioner Cathleen Perez, who will also receive GOAL’s Ally Award and Andy Cohen, star of Bravo TV's “Watch What Happens Live,” who will be the event’s keynote speaker and receive the group’s Visibility Award.