From nameless rookies to city’s newest heroes
Published: February 7, 2007
On Monday, they were faceless rookies walking a beat in Queens in the dead of night.
Tuesday, Officers Patrick Lynch and Christine Schmidt were media darlings, lauded by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for chasing and nabbing a man who police said had just ambushed a fellow rookie, clubbing him with a baseball bat and stealing his gun.
“We’re all extremely proud,” said Kelly, surrounded by other department brass at a Police Plaza news conference as photographers snapped away at the rookies. “These are two bright, energetic, obviously courageous officers here.”
But neither Lynch nor Schmidt seemed particularly impressed with what they had done.
“I reacted quickly,” Lynch said. “I did my job.”
“I knew something had to be done,” Schmidt said. “I just took action.”
The young officers, less than two months out of the Police Academy, reacted quickly and decisively in catching the suspect, Danny Fernandez, 21, of Flushing. Just seconds earlier, at 1:20 a.m. Monday, Fernandez had slammed Officer Joseph Cho from behind with an aluminum bat in an apparent attempt to get a gun so he could rob people to pay off a $16,000 debt, police said.
He succeeded only temporarily, running off with Cho’s 9mm handgun and his handcuffs at 102nd Street and 39th Avenue in Corona, police said.
But police had posted a number of rookies in the area to combat street crime, part of its Operation Impact program.
Lynch, up the block on 39th Avenue, saw the suspect standing over the fallen officer and gave chase — he ran long-distance on the track teamwhile in college — radioing for help in the process. That call grabbed Schmidt’s attention.
As Lynch chased Fernandez up 102nd Street, Lynch headed south on the same block. Together, they caught up to Fernandez and arrested him.
Fernandez, whose previous arrest record is sealed, was charged with attempted robbery and gun possession.
Cho, 32, is listed in serious but stable condition at Elmhurst Hospital with a concussion and a fractured skull. A host of relatives and colleagues visited him Tuesday. One officer, who knows Cho as good-natured and fun to be around, said the wounded cop spent a good part of the day napping.
“He’s in remarkably good spirits considering the viciousness of the attack he was subjected to,” said Kelly, who visited Cho Tuesday.
Lynch, 22, and Schmidt, 26, were each honored by Kelly with a plaque for what he called their “outstanding service” and a $500 check from the Police Foundation, a charity that supports the NYPD.
Kelly joked about the reward in contrast to the $25,100 starting salary for rookie officers, a wage seen as an obstacle to recruiting quality officers.
“I’m sure everyone in America needs more money,” Lynch said. “But I’m proud to be an officer in the NYPD.”
And Schmidt, a former substitute school teacher for the city, noted with a smile what being a police officer means:
“My parents are very proud of me.”
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