Award for bravery

HONOURED Glenamoy native and NYPD Sergeant Patrick O’Boyle along with his wife Eileen, son Declan and daughter Linda after receiving the ‘Combat Cross Medal’ from the Mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg.

Award for bravery

Anton McNulty

A GLENAMOY native and NYPD Sergeant, Patrick O’Boyle, was awarded a Combat Cross Medal for bravery and heroism from the Mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg last month after he miraculously survived being shot in the head and being fired at 15 times by a criminal in Harlem in July 2005.
As well as being shot in the head, Sgt O’Boyle was also shot in the leg and in the upper groin area and still has fragments of bullets in his body. During his police career, he received numerous medals and was described by Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as a ‘true New York hero’.
Patrick (44) emigrated to the States with his wife Eileen, who is originally from Gorthmelia, Inver and their two children Declan and Linda in 1988. After working as a carpenter and a building management supervisor, he joined the NYPD 12 years ago and was made a sergeant in 2004.
“When you are looking down the barrel of a gun, it is not a nice feeling!” Patrick told The Mayo News from his home in New York of his experience on that fateful day when he chased and cornered criminal Terrell Harris before he was shot.
He explained that he was assigned to plain clothes duty and it was a very quiet day until he saw a man cross the road at 2.30 in the afternoon with a gun in open view. After a chase over ‘quite a distance’ and after the criminal fired shots at him, Patrick cornered him at the back of a building. He pleaded with him to drop the gun, but suddenly he produced a second gun and from a distance of 20 feet he fired 15 times at the Glenamoy native.
“The last thing I remember was my head going back and then waking up in hospital. I thought he was going to drop the gun but I guess he had other ideas. I was very lucky because he was on a concrete wheelchair ramp and I was underneath a metal railing so it offered me some protection. God must have been looking out for me,” he said.
Patrick spent only a few days in hospital, but was told he was lucky to be alive because the bullet wound to his upper groin area just missed the femoral artery by a quarter of an inch. He said the news was broken to his parents Síle and John O’Boyle, who still live in Glenamoy, by his brother-in-law who told them it was a minor accident but he said they were only reassured of his safety when they heard his voice. Patrick explained that he hopes to get back to Glenamoy in August and gets home as often as be can.
Despite returning to work he was forced to retire last month because of the injuries sustained and police work is something he readily admits he misses.
“I miss the excitement and I worked with the best people and I learned a lot. There was always a lot of excitement and unpredictability in it. The day I was shot it was a beautiful sunny day, the dispatches were quiet and then you make a turn and all hell breaks loose. It was a great job and I’m glad I did it,” he said.