BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Slain Officer Is Mourned in Brooklyn
By SEWELL CHAN
Edwards funeral Ángel Franco/The New York Times Harni Steed, 19, holding her 6-month-old daughter, Amiyah Smith, came to pay her respects to Officer Omar J. Edwards.
Updated, 11:56 a.m. | Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on Thursday morning to honor Omar J. Edwards, the 25-year-old police officer who was fatally shot last week by a fellow officer who mistook him for a robber.
Gov. David A. Paterson, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and scores of other dignitaries stood at attention outside Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church, at Throop Avenue and MacDonough Street, as the black hearse bearing Officer Edwards’s body pulled up outside at 10:05 a.m.
Preceding the hearse was a procession of 12 motorcycles, a police cruiser and a funerary vehicle, its rear filled with flowers. Then, to the slow but distant beat of drums, a line of Catholic clergy — including Nicholas A. diMarzio, the bishop of Brooklyn, and the Rev. Paul W. Jervis, the church’s pastor — came and stood at the front of the church. Then an honor guard slowly made its way up Throop Avenue. It included some three dozen kilt-wearing bagpipers, and about a dozen drummers.
Hundreds of police officers, dressed in their navy-blue dress uniforms, filled the pews of Our Lady of Victory for the funeral Mass. Officer Edwards, who had been on the force for two years, was promoted posthumously on Thursday to detective first grade.
“We come today not so much to mourn, but to celebrate the life of Omar Edwards,” said the homilist, Msgr. Robert J. Romano.
“He was a dedicated cop, one that tried to do the best that he could for his community, to make the city a better place to live, for his own family and for all other families,” Reverend Romano said. “He was the team player.”
Addressing himself to the officer’s family — including the officer’s parents, Ricardo Edwards and Natalia Harding; his widow, Danielle; and his two sons, Xavier and Keanu — Reverend Romano said: “Your pain is our pain. Your sorrow is our sorrow. Your tears are our tears.”
Noting that the officer’s two young sons, Xavier and Keanu, “are asleep right now,” Reverend Romano told the family, “We want you to let them know when they grow up that their father was a hero and that they have countless thousands of uncles and aunts that will watch over them, protect them and be there for them. That’s what family is. That’s what team-playing is all about.”
Reverend Romano made reference to the various teams Officer Edwards was part of. The officer had dreamed of joining law enforcement since childhood, working as a youth counselor in the 73rd Precinct. An avid Giants fan, who was also fond of video games, he was a running back with a semi-professional team, the Brooklyn Mariners, and was a member of the Police Department’s football team.
The homily made no mention of the troubling circumstances of Officer Edwards’s death. Off duty, and in pursuit of a suspected robber, Officer Edwards was running down a street in East Harlem, his service revolver in his hand, when he was confronted by three other officers who mistook him for a criminal. The deadly episode opened up painful racial wounds: Officer Edwards, who was black, was shot by a fellow officer who was white, the latest in a string of deadly cases of mistaken identity dating to 1940.
Reverend Jervis, the church’s pastor, in introducing the mayor, made reference to the “tragic circumstance in which the young officers’ life was cut down by the gunfire of a fellow officer, who now lives to regret the fatal results from what he did in the line of duty.” Reverend Jervis said of the officer who fired the deadly shots, Andrew P. Dunton: “He too needs compassion. Officer Dunton needs our prayers.”
Reverend Jervis added: “Officer Omar Edwards would not have died in vain if the circumstances of his death could teach our police men and women of all races to avoid similar experiences in the future.”
The mayor said that Officer Edwards’s dedication “truly knew no limits” and added, “Becoming a police officer was truly a dream come true for Omar.” He noted that Officer Edwards’s father-in-law was a longtime police veteran.
On the police football team, Mr. Bloomberg said, Officer Edwards was most respected for his “composure and self-possession.” His calm was especially valuable during away games, the mayor said.
The mayor mourned the loss of “a life so full and so promising,” and said that “though he had just left his shift that night,” he followed his duty to pursue criminals.
“His devotion to duty then and throughout his brief career in the N.Y.P.D. exemplifies the best traditions of this department,” the mayor said, announcing the officer’s posthumous promotion — news that was met with applause throughout the church.
The mayor, however, did not make any specific commitments regarding police training or policy, saying the matter was still under investigation. His remarks were met with measured, but not effusive, applause.
Governor Paterson said “anger and frustration” that “such a wonderful man, who was such a hero in his community, whom so many others looked up to” was understandable. Mr. Paterson said the state would do anything in its powers to “try to make sure that an incident like this never happens again.”
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly extended “our most profound condolences” on behalf of the Police Department, calling the officer “everything we could hope for in a police officer: conscientious, hard-working, driven to learn everything he could about policing from the time he was a child.”
Mr. Kelly said that “curiosity compelled him,” recalling the young man’s inquisitive character during his time at the Police Academy, after college. (“When he graduated from the Police Academy, he was so proud of his police shield that he wore it around the apartment,” Mr. Kelly said, to laughter.)
In Officer Edwards’s locker after his death, Mr. Kelly noted, was a photograph of his sons.
Mr. Kelly recalled Officer Edwards’s work as a police officer in public housing projects. In his first evaluation, Officer Edwards was cited for his compassion and integrity, Mr. Kelly said.
“Between work and fatherhood, he was living out his lifelong dream,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly said that the police and the city “owe Omar’s family our deepest sympathy” as well as a total “accounting of the facts.”
Mourners waiting outside the church on Thursday mourning said the death raised troubling questions. Many were angry, but all were civil, and said they believed the Police Department and the city were taking the case seriously.
“My heart is very, very heavy,” said Councilwoman Letitia James, a Brooklyn Democrat and a civil rights lawyer. “There is a collective sigh in central Brooklyn.”
She added, “There’s no way we can ignore the issue of race: It’s got to be confronted.”
The Rev. David A. Hampton, the pastor at Bethany Baptist Church nearby, said of the authorities: “I think they’ve handled it with as much integrity as they can.” He added, “We have a serious race problem within our Police Department that needs to be addressed.” The problem, he said, is not so much conscious racism as a need for better training.
The Rev. Christopher J. Brown, an assistant pastor at First A.M.E. Zion Church, which is also nearby, had met Officer Edwards and knew members of the family. “Accidents do happen, but you can’t justify it by saying oops,” he said. “Someone has to answer. That doesn’t need someone has to be put in jail, but the problem needs to be addressed and straightened out.”
Along with the mayor and governor, others attending the funeral included the public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum; the city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr.; District Attorneys Richard A. Brown of Queens and Daniel M. Donovan Jr. of Staten Island; and the City Council members Charles Barron, Letitia James and Albert Vann, of Brooklyn.
Omar Jamaal Edwards, born on Feb. 4, 1984, is to be buried later on Thursday at St. Charles Cemetery, in Pinelawn, on Long Island.
By SEWELL CHAN
Edwards funeral Ángel Franco/The New York Times Harni Steed, 19, holding her 6-month-old daughter, Amiyah Smith, came to pay her respects to Officer Omar J. Edwards.
Updated, 11:56 a.m. | Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on Thursday morning to honor Omar J. Edwards, the 25-year-old police officer who was fatally shot last week by a fellow officer who mistook him for a robber.
Gov. David A. Paterson, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and scores of other dignitaries stood at attention outside Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church, at Throop Avenue and MacDonough Street, as the black hearse bearing Officer Edwards’s body pulled up outside at 10:05 a.m.
Preceding the hearse was a procession of 12 motorcycles, a police cruiser and a funerary vehicle, its rear filled with flowers. Then, to the slow but distant beat of drums, a line of Catholic clergy — including Nicholas A. diMarzio, the bishop of Brooklyn, and the Rev. Paul W. Jervis, the church’s pastor — came and stood at the front of the church. Then an honor guard slowly made its way up Throop Avenue. It included some three dozen kilt-wearing bagpipers, and about a dozen drummers.
Hundreds of police officers, dressed in their navy-blue dress uniforms, filled the pews of Our Lady of Victory for the funeral Mass. Officer Edwards, who had been on the force for two years, was promoted posthumously on Thursday to detective first grade.
“We come today not so much to mourn, but to celebrate the life of Omar Edwards,” said the homilist, Msgr. Robert J. Romano.
“He was a dedicated cop, one that tried to do the best that he could for his community, to make the city a better place to live, for his own family and for all other families,” Reverend Romano said. “He was the team player.”
Addressing himself to the officer’s family — including the officer’s parents, Ricardo Edwards and Natalia Harding; his widow, Danielle; and his two sons, Xavier and Keanu — Reverend Romano said: “Your pain is our pain. Your sorrow is our sorrow. Your tears are our tears.”
Noting that the officer’s two young sons, Xavier and Keanu, “are asleep right now,” Reverend Romano told the family, “We want you to let them know when they grow up that their father was a hero and that they have countless thousands of uncles and aunts that will watch over them, protect them and be there for them. That’s what family is. That’s what team-playing is all about.”
Reverend Romano made reference to the various teams Officer Edwards was part of. The officer had dreamed of joining law enforcement since childhood, working as a youth counselor in the 73rd Precinct. An avid Giants fan, who was also fond of video games, he was a running back with a semi-professional team, the Brooklyn Mariners, and was a member of the Police Department’s football team.
The homily made no mention of the troubling circumstances of Officer Edwards’s death. Off duty, and in pursuit of a suspected robber, Officer Edwards was running down a street in East Harlem, his service revolver in his hand, when he was confronted by three other officers who mistook him for a criminal. The deadly episode opened up painful racial wounds: Officer Edwards, who was black, was shot by a fellow officer who was white, the latest in a string of deadly cases of mistaken identity dating to 1940.
Reverend Jervis, the church’s pastor, in introducing the mayor, made reference to the “tragic circumstance in which the young officers’ life was cut down by the gunfire of a fellow officer, who now lives to regret the fatal results from what he did in the line of duty.” Reverend Jervis said of the officer who fired the deadly shots, Andrew P. Dunton: “He too needs compassion. Officer Dunton needs our prayers.”
Reverend Jervis added: “Officer Omar Edwards would not have died in vain if the circumstances of his death could teach our police men and women of all races to avoid similar experiences in the future.”
The mayor said that Officer Edwards’s dedication “truly knew no limits” and added, “Becoming a police officer was truly a dream come true for Omar.” He noted that Officer Edwards’s father-in-law was a longtime police veteran.
On the police football team, Mr. Bloomberg said, Officer Edwards was most respected for his “composure and self-possession.” His calm was especially valuable during away games, the mayor said.
The mayor mourned the loss of “a life so full and so promising,” and said that “though he had just left his shift that night,” he followed his duty to pursue criminals.
“His devotion to duty then and throughout his brief career in the N.Y.P.D. exemplifies the best traditions of this department,” the mayor said, announcing the officer’s posthumous promotion — news that was met with applause throughout the church.
The mayor, however, did not make any specific commitments regarding police training or policy, saying the matter was still under investigation. His remarks were met with measured, but not effusive, applause.
Governor Paterson said “anger and frustration” that “such a wonderful man, who was such a hero in his community, whom so many others looked up to” was understandable. Mr. Paterson said the state would do anything in its powers to “try to make sure that an incident like this never happens again.”
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly extended “our most profound condolences” on behalf of the Police Department, calling the officer “everything we could hope for in a police officer: conscientious, hard-working, driven to learn everything he could about policing from the time he was a child.”
Mr. Kelly said that “curiosity compelled him,” recalling the young man’s inquisitive character during his time at the Police Academy, after college. (“When he graduated from the Police Academy, he was so proud of his police shield that he wore it around the apartment,” Mr. Kelly said, to laughter.)
In Officer Edwards’s locker after his death, Mr. Kelly noted, was a photograph of his sons.
Mr. Kelly recalled Officer Edwards’s work as a police officer in public housing projects. In his first evaluation, Officer Edwards was cited for his compassion and integrity, Mr. Kelly said.
“Between work and fatherhood, he was living out his lifelong dream,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly said that the police and the city “owe Omar’s family our deepest sympathy” as well as a total “accounting of the facts.”
Mourners waiting outside the church on Thursday mourning said the death raised troubling questions. Many were angry, but all were civil, and said they believed the Police Department and the city were taking the case seriously.
“My heart is very, very heavy,” said Councilwoman Letitia James, a Brooklyn Democrat and a civil rights lawyer. “There is a collective sigh in central Brooklyn.”
She added, “There’s no way we can ignore the issue of race: It’s got to be confronted.”
The Rev. David A. Hampton, the pastor at Bethany Baptist Church nearby, said of the authorities: “I think they’ve handled it with as much integrity as they can.” He added, “We have a serious race problem within our Police Department that needs to be addressed.” The problem, he said, is not so much conscious racism as a need for better training.
The Rev. Christopher J. Brown, an assistant pastor at First A.M.E. Zion Church, which is also nearby, had met Officer Edwards and knew members of the family. “Accidents do happen, but you can’t justify it by saying oops,” he said. “Someone has to answer. That doesn’t need someone has to be put in jail, but the problem needs to be addressed and straightened out.”
Along with the mayor and governor, others attending the funeral included the public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum; the city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr.; District Attorneys Richard A. Brown of Queens and Daniel M. Donovan Jr. of Staten Island; and the City Council members Charles Barron, Letitia James and Albert Vann, of Brooklyn.
Omar Jamaal Edwards, born on Feb. 4, 1984, is to be buried later on Thursday at St. Charles Cemetery, in Pinelawn, on Long Island.
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