Arrangements have been set for the funeral of a 42-year-old New York City police detective from Calverton was fatally struck by friendly fire at the scene of a robbery in Queens this week.
Services for Det. Brian Simonsen, who worked in the 102nd Precinct, will be held 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, and 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, followed by the funeral mass at 10 a.m. Wednesday. All services, including the wake, will be held at Saint Rosalie Roman Catholic Church at 31 East Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays.
“He always helped, he never turned his back on a friend. That’s the kind of officer that we lost,” Simcha Waisman, the 102nd Precinct Community Council president, said. “That’s part of the job but it’s sad when it comes to haunt you at home… We’re all just taking a step back, mourning and trying to cope with this.”
NYPD officers responding to a robbery at a T-Mobile store on Atlantic Avenue in Richmond Hill shot Simonsen and his partner, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, at 6:24 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Simonsen, a 19-year veteran of the force, sustained a gunshot wound to the chest that proved fatal. The sergeant was hit in the leg and was treated at Jamaica Hospital.
“Make no mistake about it, friendly fire aside, it is because the actions of the suspect that Detective Simonsen is dead,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill told reporters.
The robbery suspect, Christopher Ransom, 27, charged the officers carrying a mock firearm, leading to the police gunfire that killed the detective.
Ransom has over 25 misdemeanor arrests under his belt including an incident where he allegedly impersonated an officer of the 77th Precinct. He has since been charged by NYPD with second degree murder while charges from the Queens DA are still pending, as the arraignment has been postponed.
-With QNS.
