A New York City police officer who spent more than three decades in a vegetative state after being shot in the head during a botched robbery has died, officials said.
Patterson was washing his car on a street in Brooklyn when he was approached by three young men who demanded $20, police said. One of the robbers, who was 15 years old, shot Patterson.
Patterson suffered a catastrophic injury and spent the next 33 years in what news reports describe as a vegetative state, though supporters held out hope that he would regain consciousness.to honor Patterson and NYPD Assistant Chief Judith Harrison said during a vigil for Patterson last year that she was"hoping for a miracle" more than 30 years after the shooting.
"The Police department has a saying, 'We will not forget,'" Harrison said in a video posted to Facebook last year."But when we gather here, what we do is we put action behind those words. So we're here to celebrate Troy." Off duty Police Officer Troy Patterson was shot in 1990 as he washed his car at a fire hydrant in front of 50 Jefferson Avenue. We have vowed to never forget, and we prove it every year by gathering with his family, friends and colleagues for a candlelight vigil in his honor.DiGiacomo, who visited Patterson in his rehabilitation facility, said the wounded detective could respond with body movements.
The three would-be robbers all served prison time for charges related to the shooting and have been released, DiGiacomo said.
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