Famed detective and TV reporter Sheehan, 71, dies

Veteran New York City detective-turned-reporter Mike Sheehan, a key investigator in the Central Park Five case and the arrest of “preppie killer” Robert Chambers, has died.

Sheehan, 71, lost a battle with cancer at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Lower Manhattan late Friday, said Michael Palladino, president of the NYPD’s Detectives Endowment Association. Sheehan also suffered kidney problems, friends said.

Sheehan grew up on the Upper East Side and worked as a bartender before joining the NYPD in July 1969.

He and his childhood friend, former NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Stephen Davis, were promoted to detective in 1980 — when the city recorded a then-record 1,814 homicides — after their cop instincts helped break a big case.

Davis and Sheehan (photo) were working a night shift on W. 125th St. when they saw two men acting suspiciously as they exited a building. The cops tailed the men in their squad car for about a block and pulled over when the suspects suddenly turned.

“We got the jump on them first,” Davis said. “We jumped out of the car just as he was about to pull the gun.”

It turned out the men were linked to 11 murders in Harlem and to the shooting of Police Officer Mary Bembry, the first NYPD female cop shot. Bembry was off duty Feb. 9, 1980 when she, her uncle and their accountant were shot in a robbery in the accountant’s office. Bembry survived but her uncle and accountant did not.

Sheehan’s instincts and ability to read and talk to people were sorely needed as crime peaked, said Davis.

Although their careers took them in different directions, Davis and Sheehan stayed friends. Davis last saw his pal in the hospital two weeks ago.

“I was belly laughing,” Davis said. “I was getting embarrassed. He was remembering some stories that I prefer would be forgotten.”

Sheehan spent 23 years with the NYPD and worked on high-profile cases like that of Chambers, who killed Jennifer Levin, 18, in Central Park in 1986, and the 1989 Central Park jogger probe that led to five black and Latino teens being convicted of rape — charges that were later vacated.

Sheehan retired in 1992. He became a reporter for Fox 5, where he worked until 2009. He was fired after being arrested for hitting an NYPD horse with his car. Later he pleaded guilty to driving drunk and ramming the horse.

Sheehan is survived by his wife, Denise, and daughter, Clair.