PHOTO: The family of slain Det. Brian Moore accepted his Medal of Honor on Tuesday. Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By Michael V. Cusenza
The City on Tuesday honored the finest of its Finest at One Police Plaza during the NYPD’S annual Medal Day ceremony.
Among the 54 cops to earn recognition from the department this year were several officers with ties to the World’s Borough.
Det. Brian Moore received the Medal of Honor. Moore, the son of a retired NYPD sergeant, was shot in the face in Springfield Gardens in May 2015 after asking a suspect what he was fidgeting with in his waistband. His family decided to take him off life support two days later.
During his five-year career, Moore, who worked out of the 105th Precinct in Queens Village, was awarded two Excellent Police Duty Medals and two Meritorious Police Duty Medals for exceptional police duty. He made 160 arrests.
Det. Randolph Holder also earned the Medal of Honor. The Far Rockaway resident was gunned down last October while responding to a call of shots fired in East Harlem. Tyrone “Peanut” Howard, 30, a recidivist criminal with suspected gang ties, has been charged in the slaying. Holder, 33, a Guyanese immigrant with five years on the force, was mourned days after his murder at a candlelight vigil on Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill.
Police Officer Kenneth Healey received the Medal of Honor, and his former 103rd Precinct colleagues Joseph Meeker, Taylor Kraft, and Peter Rivera earned the Combat Cross. On Oct. 23, 2014, the four officers were on a foot post when they were approached by a freelance photographer who asked them to pose for a picture. As the cops were standing together, Zale Thompson, 32, charged at them with a hatchet in his hand. Unprovoked and not speaking a word, Thompson swung the hatchet at Meeker, striking his right arm. Thompson, who later was characterized by Bratton as a “self-radicalized” Muslim, continued swinging the weapon, striking Healey in his head, gravely injuring him.
As Thompson continued his assault, Kraft and Rivera opened fire, killing him. Healey’s brothers in blue lifted him into a police vehicle and rushed him to nearby Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition for days.
Healey survived his wounds and made it all the way back to the job. He is now assigned to the Technical Assistance & Response Unit.
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