Love for fallen cop
Outpouring, street naming one year after Familia ambush slay
Love and anger mingled Thursday as relatives and hundreds of New York’s Finest gathered in the Bronx for a memorial service honoring slain NYPD Detective and mother of three Miosotis Familia.
The service preceded a street renaming for Familia, who, one year earlier, was shot at point-blank range when a man with a history of mental problems ambushed her as she sat in a mobile command unit on E. 183rd St. in Fordham Heights. The shooter, ex-con Alexander Bonds, stormed up to the cop’s vehicle just after midnight on July 5, 2017, and fired upon Familia, 48. Other officers shot and killed Bonds.
Familia had asked to work the midnight shift to free up more time for her to be with her family during the summer, colleagues said. Her heartbroken relatives noted she had made the request just three weeks earlier.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill addressed those attending, including the late cop’s children, Genesis Villella, 21, and 13-year-olds Peter and Delilah Vega, as well as fellow officers who filled 20 rows in the rear of the church in the Grand Concourse neighborood. O’Neill acknowledged that he still struggles with Familia’s brutal murder.
“Last year, same holiday, a few short hours after the fireworks, Miosotis was brutally murdered, and I was angry … Maybe I’m a little less angry this year, but not totally,” he said. “Why was she targeted? Why did it happen? We’re society’s protectors. So why would a member of our society do this to our most beloved profession? I don’t have that answer.”
The city’s top cop also expressed the gratitude of the NYPD and the entire city to Familia’s children and her mother, Adriana.
“Thank you for sharing Miosotis with us. Thank you for sharing Miosotis with all of New York City,” he said. “There’s nothing that I can say or do that will bring her back, but just know, each and every day, we think about her. We think about her legacy. And her legacy is what makes this a better place.”
Five months after Familia’s murder, her three children found a new home with the help of the Daily News, along with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and Skyview Apartments LLC, which raised enough money to purchase a three-bedroom co-op for them in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
The Emerald Society, made up of police officers of Irish heritage, led a procession from the service to the 46th precinct stationhouse in the Bronx, where a nearby street was renamed in honor of Familia.
The street dedication ceremony, where Ryer Ave. at E. 181st St. became Detective Miosotis Familia Way, began with a presentation of the colors and the national anthem.
Mayor de Blasio called Familia “a truly great New Yorker. Today there is a message of family running through this gathering,” he said. “Because of the feeling, the deep feeling, we have for this beautiful family that we came to know in the last year.”
The mayor added that Familia “is really one of the finest examples you will ever see of the American Dream — the kind of striver that has always made this city great. She had a dream — she wanted to go to college. She was the first in her family to achieve that dream. She had a dream that she wanted to join the NYPD. She dreamed, and she achieved. And always with warmth and heart; the love she gave to all those around her was so powerful.”
O’Neill said Familia “wanted to improve the lives of families. She epitomized why many people choose to become police officers.”
Addressing Familia’s children, he said, “Your mom made it her mission to make your home, NYC, a better place and a safer place for everyone. The NYPD has done a lot of work here to diffuse the tension between police and communities. But it’s not enough. It will never be enough and that’s OK — because it’s our duty to keep fighting crime and keep making people safe.”
City Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) sponsored the bill that allowed the block outside the 46th Precinct stationhouse — where Familia was assigned — to be renamed.