A hero NYPD detective who died after spending more than three decades in a catatonic state was remembered Friday as “an icon” and “a beacon of life” at his funeral in Brooklyn.
Hundreds of police officers lined Park Place outside the Historic First Church of God in Christ in Crown Heights, where Detective Troy Patterson, 60 — who was ambushed during a botched robbery attempt in 1990 — was tearfully laid to rest.
“I remember as a baby, 5 years old, seeing my dad laid up in that bed with tubes everywhere,” his son Troy Patterson Jr. said in a heartbreaking eulogy.
“I didn’t understand it. I used to want to know why can’t he walk, why can’t he talk. That was the hardest thing,” he said, weeping. “Dad, you touched so many lives … I love you. I honor you, my hero.”
Patterson, who died April 29, was off duty and washing his car a few blocks from home in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Jan. 16, 1990, when he was shot in the head over $20.
The 15-year-old gunman fled with two accomplices, leaving Patterson paralyzed and in a vegetative state for nearly 33 years.
The panicked suspects — Vincent Robbins, Tracey Clark and Darien Crawford — bolted without Patterson’s wallet and were later arrested.
In the years that followed, the injured cop suffered severe brain damage with some mental awareness but no ability to speak, and was confined to a wheelchair, according to friends and family.
“He was aware of people being in the room. He was living, it’s not like he was on a machine to keep him alive,” family friend and fellow cop Michael Balioni told The Post. “Based off of his condition, he would not have recovered. It’s a complicated situation.”
Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch said he “would get quiet, as if he was listening” when loved ones spoke to him.
“I believe he was hearing it, and feeling supported, feeling respect, and feeling love,” he said.
Amid a sea of blue Friday, members of New York’s Finest recalled Patterson as a hardworking “jokester” who was deeply dedicated to policing and treasured his son and his “beloved Nissan Maxima.”
Others described him as “a good-looking brother” who always “wore a smile” during his years on the force.
“He was a beacon of life, a jokester,” said retired Detective Cliff Hollingsworth, a pal of Patterson who held annual candlelight vigils at the site of the attack.
If Patterson’s assailants had simply asked him for $20, “he would have gladly given it to them,” Hollingsworth said. “This is the type of man he [was].”
Mayor Eric Adams also gave an emotional speech, describing devastating visits to Patterson.
“We would put a good face on while we were there,” he said. “[But afterwards] all of us would sit in our cars privately and just uncontrollably cry as we watched such an energetic, joyful good man live in that manner.”
Patterson accomplished an astounding amount of good — including taking guns and criminals off the street during the city’s crack epidemic — while working as a patrol officer, Adams said.
“Six years and look at the number of medals he had,” Adams said. “He believed in policing.”
Patterson, who had earned seven commendations during his six years on the force, was promoted to detective in 2016.
“He was undoubtedly a hero, an icon and a large part of NYPD history,” said Detective Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association.
“He inspired a generation of New York’s Finest,” declared First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban. “We strive to serve as Troy did … We strive to live as Troy did.”
