FootPost23
08-04-2005, 19:10
Slain cop's father to address grieving police officers
BY LUIS PEREZ
STAFF WRITER
August 5, 2005
As grieving city police officers mourned a comrade killed in Iraq, the slain cop's father was expected to address them at their lower Manhattan station house Thursday night, colleagues said.
William McNaughton, whose son, James, 27, was killed on Tuesday by a single sniper's bullet at Camp Victory near Baghdad, was to give roll call at Transit District 2, where his son worked the midnight shift before volunteering for a tour in Iraq last fall.
"We are bringing him in to speak to the guys," said Sergeant Eddie Bunnicelli, who said McNaughton would be ferried by a Highway Patrol car from his home in Centereach.
Asked what the father, 50, a retired Transit Bureau officer, would say to the cops, Bunnicelli reflected on the son's sacrifice.
"In this day and age, a 27-year-old guy who puts his life on the line for his country, and his city, it's unheard of," Bunnicelli said. "It's a 'me' society these days, and most young people don't do that.
"It's a special thing."
McNaughton, from the first Police Academy class to graduate after the Sept. 11 terror attack, joined the Army after graduating from Centereach High School in 1996. His rank was staff segeant.
He was the first city cop, and second city employee, to die in the Iraq war. Firefighter Christian Engeldrum, 39, a New York National Guard sergeant who served as a police officer before joining the fire department, was killed in a roadside attack in Baghdad last fall.
The new loss brought police officers across the city to drape black bands over their badges, and black and purple bunting also went up at One Police Plaza.
At the station house inside the Canal Street A/C/E subway station, less than a mile from Ground Zero, bunting and an American flag loomed over an easel with newspaper clippings about the incident.
"You walk in the command and you definitely sense that something is going on, something is wrong," said one police officer who did not want to be named. "It's sadness in there."
McNaughton comes from a family steeped in the police department. His stepmother, Michelle, is assigned to the Transit Bureau. And during his last two-week visit home, McNaughton became engaged to Officer Lilliana Paredes, 25, of the Ninth Precinct, family members said.
At his home in Centereach, an uncle, Jim McNaughton, said funeral arrangements had not been made because McNaughton's body had yet to arrive from Iraq.
Staff writers Christian Salazar and Deborah S. Morris contributed to this story.
BY LUIS PEREZ
STAFF WRITER
August 5, 2005
As grieving city police officers mourned a comrade killed in Iraq, the slain cop's father was expected to address them at their lower Manhattan station house Thursday night, colleagues said.
William McNaughton, whose son, James, 27, was killed on Tuesday by a single sniper's bullet at Camp Victory near Baghdad, was to give roll call at Transit District 2, where his son worked the midnight shift before volunteering for a tour in Iraq last fall.
"We are bringing him in to speak to the guys," said Sergeant Eddie Bunnicelli, who said McNaughton would be ferried by a Highway Patrol car from his home in Centereach.
Asked what the father, 50, a retired Transit Bureau officer, would say to the cops, Bunnicelli reflected on the son's sacrifice.
"In this day and age, a 27-year-old guy who puts his life on the line for his country, and his city, it's unheard of," Bunnicelli said. "It's a 'me' society these days, and most young people don't do that.
"It's a special thing."
McNaughton, from the first Police Academy class to graduate after the Sept. 11 terror attack, joined the Army after graduating from Centereach High School in 1996. His rank was staff segeant.
He was the first city cop, and second city employee, to die in the Iraq war. Firefighter Christian Engeldrum, 39, a New York National Guard sergeant who served as a police officer before joining the fire department, was killed in a roadside attack in Baghdad last fall.
The new loss brought police officers across the city to drape black bands over their badges, and black and purple bunting also went up at One Police Plaza.
At the station house inside the Canal Street A/C/E subway station, less than a mile from Ground Zero, bunting and an American flag loomed over an easel with newspaper clippings about the incident.
"You walk in the command and you definitely sense that something is going on, something is wrong," said one police officer who did not want to be named. "It's sadness in there."
McNaughton comes from a family steeped in the police department. His stepmother, Michelle, is assigned to the Transit Bureau. And during his last two-week visit home, McNaughton became engaged to Officer Lilliana Paredes, 25, of the Ninth Precinct, family members said.
At his home in Centereach, an uncle, Jim McNaughton, said funeral arrangements had not been made because McNaughton's body had yet to arrive from Iraq.
Staff writers Christian Salazar and Deborah S. Morris contributed to this story.