An NYPD detective slain in the line of duty was remembered Saturday on the same Bronx block where he was killed 21 years ago, which will now bear his name.
Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill, along with Chief of Department Terence Monahan, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and other public officials, joined Sean Carrington’s family, including his mother, Jacqueline Hodge, his fiancee, Nicole Smith, and daughter, Niya Carrington, to rename Andrews Avenue in Morris Heights after him.
“This isn’t the city that it was 21 years ago,” said Monahan, who was commanding officer of the 46 Precinct, where the shooting occurred, at the time. “Nothing is more evident than this block where we’re standing right this very moment.”
Carrington, then 28 years old, had 10 years on the job when he was fatally shot in the heart on Jan. 19, 1998 inside 1660 Andrews Avenue, during a buy and bust drug operation gone bad.
Wounded, Carrington and his partner fired back, killing gunman Leon Smith — who had been sprung from prison just nine days prior on early release, after serving 10 years for involuntary manslaughter.
“That’s a problem the still exists now in our city — making sure that people like that don’t get out to harm our men and women that are out there keeping the city safe,” Monahan continued.
“You walk into that building now, it is safe, it is beautiful — it is the revitalization of this city that Sean was responsible for.”
Niya, who was 2 when her dad was killed, and recently graduated from Binghamton University, called his death “the finale to his soul completing its purpose.”
“His spirit was powerful enough to change the emotions of those blessed within his presence,” she said. “His energy left a long lasting effect on those that he touched because his name is — and will never — be forgotten.”
We honor you, Sean Carrington.