Steven McDonald

Steven D. McDonald (March 1, 1957 January 10, 2017) was a New York City Police Department patrolman who was shot and paralyzed on July 12, 1986. The shooting left him quadriplegic.

Shooting

A former U.S. Navy hospital corpsman and third generation NYPD police officer, McDonald was shot in the line of duty by 15-year-old Shavod Jones, one of three boys he was questioning about bicycle thefts in Central Park.

Several months after he was shot, McDonald reported to the press that he had forgiven Jones for his actions. McDonald discussed the reasons for his forgiveness in some detail in the foreword of a 2014 book titled Why Forgive?, written by friend and pastor Johann Christoph Arnold.

Jones served nine years in prison for the shooting and had called McDonald to apologize, Jones was killed in a motorcycle crash on September 10, 1995, four days after his release on parole.

Personal life and death

McDonald's wife, Patricia Ann "Patti" McDonald, was elected Mayor of Malverne on Long Island in March 2007. At the time of the shooting, they had been married for less than a year and Patti was pregnant with their son Conor, who followed his father's footsteps by joining the NYPD in 2010. Conor had attained the rank of Sergeant in the force by the time of his father's death. He was given a full police funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral with Cardinal Dolan presiding over the Mass. Thousands of civilians and law enforcement officers gathered inside and outside the cathedral to pay their final respects and goodbyes, and the Mass was broadcast on the city's PIX 11 out of respect for McDonald's legacy. Phillip Phillips, winner of the eleventh season of American Idol, was invited to the wake service and performed his hit song "Home" because it was one of McDonald's favorites, according to his son, Conor.

Breaking the Cycle program McDonald further promoted his message of forgiveness following his shooting by founding Breaking the Cycle, a program promoting nonviolent conflict resolution. McDonald attended assemblies at high schools or middle schools to tell the students about his personal story of forgiveness. The program was started after McDonald traveled to Northern Ireland multiple times from 1997 to 1999 with his friends Mychal Judge and Johann Christoph Arnold to promote forgiveness in the wake of the conflicts there.

Following his death, McDonald's wife and son have continued working with Breaking the Cycle by telling his story of forgiveness to students.

Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award The New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) established the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award in his honor following the 1987–88 NHL season. McDonald would personally present a Ranger with a trophy and a $25,000 check (in the player's name) made out to the Steven McDonald Foundation. It is the only Rangers award voted for by the fans.

1987–88 – Jan Erixon 1988–89 – Tony Granato 1989–90 – John Vanbiesbrouck and Kelly Kisio 1990–91 – Jan Erixon 1991–92 – Adam Graves 1992–93 – Adam Graves 1993–94 – Adam Graves 1994–95 – Mark Messier 1995–96 – Mark Messier 1996–97 – Brian Leetch 1997–98 – Wayne Gretzky 1998–99 – Adam Graves 1999–2000 – Adam Graves 2000–01 – Sandy McCarthy 2001–02 – Sandy McCarthy 2002–03 – Matthew Barnaby 2003–04 – Jed Ortmeyer 2004–05 – not awarded 2005–06 – Henrik Lundqvist 2006–07 – Jed Ortmeyer 2007–08 – Brandon Dubinsky 2008–09 – Ryan Callahan 2009–10 – Ryan Callahan 2010–11 – Brandon Prust 2011–12 – Ryan Callahan 2012–13 – Ryan Callahan 2013–14 – Mats Zuccarello 2014–15 – Cam Talbot 2015–16 – Mats Zuccarello 2016–17 – Mats Zuccarello 2017–18 – Henrik Lundqvist 2018–19 – Mika Zibanejad 2019–20 – Mika Zibanejad 2020–21 – Adam Fox 2021–22 – Chris Kreider 2022–23 – Ryan Lindgren 2023–24 – Vincent Trocheck 2024–25 – Will Cuylle 2025–26 – Mika Zibanejad

Police Academy Renaming On February 9, 2026, the NYPD announced that the Queens Police Academy will be renamed in his honor on July 16th, the date McDonald entered the Academy in 1984.