TRUE BLUE TO THE TRAGIC END
NYPD partner hails slain cop’s loyalty
The NYPD detective killed by friendly fire was given a sad, final salute Wednesday at an emotional funeral where his police partner told of the cop’s fierce loyalty to his Queens precinct — and how he even passed up promotions to stay there with his brothers in blue.
Throughout Brian Simonsen’s 18 years, 11 months and 12 days on the job, he had plenty of opportunities to leave the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill, Detective Ricky Waters told mourners packing the Church of St. Rosalie in Hampton Bays and those lining the streets outside.
“But he would tell us, ‘Bro, I love this place. I love you guys. Where else would I be?’ ” recalled Waters, who spent the past five years as Simonsen’s partner on the precinct’s Detective Squad.
It was that same loyalty and dedication that brought Simonsen to work on Feb. 12, the day he was killed as he rushed to stop a robbery in progress.
He was supposed to have the day off but instead spent the morning at a union delegates’ meeting before canvassing for robbery suspects in a nagging case.
While Simonsen and Sgt. Matthew Gorman were canvassing, a call came in about an unrelated stickup at a cellphone store at Atlantic Avenue and 120th Street.
“Those cops responded to a call for help,” said a visibly shaken NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill in his eulogy. “They didn’t hesitate.
“And they are not to blame” for the fatal twist of fate that struck next, O’Neill said.
CChristopher Ransom, 27, a career criminalnal, met Simonsen, Gorman and six other copcops in the entryway of the T-Mobile stostore, allegedly pointing a realistic-lookinging fake gun and squeezing the trigger.
Seven cops fired 42 shots, hitting Ransom eight times — but also striking Simonsen in the chest and Gorman in the leg.
Simonsen, 42, was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
It was only after the fatal fusillade that cops learned Ransom’s gun wasn’t real.
Prosecutors have hit Ransom and his alleged lookout man, Jagger Freeman, 25, with charges that include murder.
“The two people responsible for Brian’s death — the only two — are the career criminals who decided to go to that store on Tuesday night and commit an armed robbery,” O’Neill said.
The top cop then posthumously promoted Simonsen to detective first grade from third grade, to a standing ovation from a crowd that included the fallen hero’s widow, Leanne, mom, Linda, and a sea of blue-clad cops from across the country, among them Gorman in a wheelchair.
Sean Peterson was doubly struck by the tragedy — both as a fellow cop and as Simonsen’s cousin.
“From a young age, Brian lived life to his fullest,” said Peterson, recalling their childhood spent fishing and riding bikes together. “Brian seemed to have the ability to get us both in trouble.”
In March 2000, the bond between the already-inseparable cousins strengthened when they became cops at the same time.
“Being an officer was not only what Brian did, it was who he was,” Peterson said. “He ran in when everyone ran out.”
Mayor de Blasio asked city residents to spare a thought for Simonsen’s brothers and sisters in blue.
“I ask every New Yorker, when you see a police officer today, please offer them condolences as you would to someone who has lost a family member,” de Blasio said. “Because, in fact, they have.”