NYPD Officer Dies 33 Years After He Was Shot in a Robbery
NEW YORK—A New York City police officer who spent more than three decades in a vegetative state after being shot in the head during a botched robbery has died, officials said.
Detective Troy Patterson, who was off duty when he was shot on Jan. 16, 1990, died Saturday, Detectives Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo said Monday.
Patterson was washing his car on a street in Brooklyn when he was approached by three young men who demanded $20, police said. One of the robbers, who was 15 years old, shot Patterson.
Patterson suffered a catastrophic injury and spent the next 33 years in what news reports describe as a vegetative state, though supporters held out hope that he would regain consciousness….