NYPD Det. Brian Simonsen's widow makes appeal for more organ donors

A city still reeling from a 12-hour shooting rampage that wounded two NYPD cops got another reminder Tuesday about the perils of police work and how the difference between life and death often hinges on the path of a bullet.

The wife of NYPD Det. Brian Simonsen, a Calverton resident shot dead a year ago Wednesday in a case of friendly fire, took part in a television interview where she described life since her husband's death and expressed hope his harvested organs will help others.

“If Brian’s soul is living on in somebody else, it's amazing,” Leanne Simonsen said as she and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea appeared on the Fox 5 morning program "Good Day New York" to promote organ donation.

“He was just the most beautiful soul,” Simonsen said.

Her husband was killed on the night of Feb. 12, 2019, when he and fellow NYPD officers responded to a call of an attempted robbery at an electronics store in Richmond Hill, Queens. Brian Simonsen, a 19-year NYPD veteran, and other officers arrayed themselves around the front door of the business. Cops fired a number of shots, one of which struck Simonsen in the chest, killing him. Police said he wasn’t wearing a protective vest.

Leanne Simonsen spoke a day after a Bronx criminal court judge ordered parolee Robert Williams held without bail on multiple counts of attempted first- and second-degree murder in connection with the shooting of two police officers within a 12-hour span Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Shea and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio described the shootings as attempted assassinations of police officers.

Williams, 45, of Evergreen Avenue in the Bronx, opened fire on two police officers Saturday night as they sat in a marked NYPD van with its lights flashing, authorities said. Bullets grazed the chin and neck of Officer Paul Stroffolino, 31, who was released from a Bronx hospital Sunday. About 12 hours after the shooting, police said, Williams walked into the 41st Precinct in the Bronx with a semi-automatic handgun and started shooting. In the chaos that followed, officers in the station house scrambled to safety. Lt. Jose Gautreaux, despite being shot in the upper left arm by Williams, returned fire, missing the gunman who quickly surrendered, police said

Leanne Simonsen didn't mention the weekend shootings Tuesday, and at times she struggled to keep her composure while recalling how she and her husband had signed organ donor permissions on their driver’s licenses. The couple never gave it a thought that it would ever lead to actual organ donating.

“It was never supposed to be us,” Simonsen told co-hosts Lori Stokes and Rosanna Scotto.

She said that after getting the initial call about her husband's death, she wanted nothing more than to bring him back home. But, as a nurse, Simonsen said, she knew that his status as an organ donor meant doctors had to act quickly.

Asked which organs were donated, Simonsen said she didn’t know for sure. But she assumed it was her husband’s corneas and some skin.

Simonsen also said she didn’t know who may have received one of Brian's organs.

“I wouldn’t mind knowing, quite honestly," she said, "I just never pursued finding out."

By appearing on the program Tuesday, Simonsen said, she hoped it would lead to others considering becoming organ donors.

“What do you need it for?” Simonsen asked. “Once you’re gone, you’re gone.”

Since her husband's death, Simonsen said, she and her mother-in-law are “surviving.” Both women rely on each other for emotional support, she said, adding that Brian’s father and sister died years ago.

In one sense, Shea said during the interview, he wished he'd never had to meet Leanne Simonsen and her family under such tragic circumstances.

“I never knew Brian,” the police commissioner said. “I feel like I know Brian. Tomorrow is one year … Brian’s spirit lives on in the police department, in the community, in the lives of the people he touched.”

With Joan Gralla

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.