I’LL PROVE I

Spent 3 decades in prison in shooting of cop, insisting

A parolee who spent three decades in prison but has always insisted he was innocent of shooting an NYPD cop is now having his case reviewed by the Queens district attorney’s office to determine if he was wrongfully convicted, the Daily News has learned.

The DA’s conviction integrity unit is reviewing the case of Shawn Boyd, convicted of attempted murder for the 1989 near-fatal shooting, Boyd’s attorney Jason Lampert of Salzano, Lampert & Wilson told The News.

“They have reopened Mr. Boyd’s case and are currently conducting an investigation of his 1990 conviction,” Lampert said of the unit, which was created when DA Melinda Katz came into office last year.

“Mr. Boyd and his legal team thank them for their willingness to reinvestigate Mr. Boyd’s matter and review his conviction in order to make an independent determination.”

Boyd was 23 when he was convicted of shooting of Officer Paul Yurkiw during a car stop on June 21, 1989, in Queens.

After first becoming eligible for parole in 2014, Boyd was released on parole from

Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County last February. He is on lifetime parole and currently lives in Brooklyn.

“I’m happy to be given the opportunity to have a fresh pair of eyes look at the case,” Boyd, now 54, told The News. “I’ve always had faith that one day the truth would come out — that gave me the push to continue.”

“You hear stories about being falsely arrested but you never think it would happen to you,” he added.

Boyd works for a nonprofit organization and has created the group I Am Black Innocent, which supports wrongfully convicted men and women of color and raises public awareness of police and judicial misconduct.

Yurkiw had been with the NYPD for seven years when he was shot three times in the chest on the Van Wyck Expressway.

The cop approached a white Nissan Maxima stopped on the side of the road thinking the driver had a mechanical problem.

But the man behind the wheel stepped out and blasted the officer at close range. Yurkiw’s life was saved by his bullet-resistant vest, which stopped all three slugs.

Despite having taken the three shots, Yurkiw managed to whack the gunman’s arm when the would-be killer aimed directly at his head, officials said.

“Without my vest, he would have killed me,” Yurkiw said in a 2018 interview with The News in which he voiced his opposition to Boyd making parole.

“He hit me three times at point-blank range while I was in uniform — and I was just looking to help him. I thought he had stalled out on the side of the road.”

Yurkiw fired back, but the gunman scrambled to his car and sped off.

“He meant to kill me,” said Yurkiw. “There are no two ways about it.”

The now-retired detective couldn’t be reached for comment