NEW YORK _ An emotional New York Police Department Commissioner James O'Neill remembered Detective Brian Simonsen as a man of courage and determination Wednesday at a funeral Mass for the decorated cop.
"We will never match the sacrifice made by Brian," said O'Neill, his voice cracking inside a Long Island church packed with the officer's family, friends and fellow cops. "But we can try to match his sense of service.
"We cannot match his courage, but we can strive to match his devotion."
The mourners inside St. Rosalie's Catholic Church in Hampton Bays rose and applauded as O'Neill announced Simonsen's posthumous promotion to first-grade detective from third-grade. The 19-year NYPD veteran was killed last week in a friendly fire shooting while responding to an armed robbery in Queens.
The slate grey skies and subfreezing temperatures mirrored the somber atmosphere at the funeral, where New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed that the slain officer's organs were donated to save others.
"I think we can all agree we have lost one of our very best," the mayor said. "And we've been given an example to live up to. To the family, I say thank you for making him the man he was. And we are all better because Brian walked among us."
A single framed photo of the detective stood on the altar eight days after his death. His devastated wife Leanne and his mother Linda arrived together just prior to the funeral Mass, with police officers on either side offering gentle support to the grieving pair.
The mother wept as she exited the church behind her son's casket, carried out by an NYPD honor guard. Leanne, who married Simonsen in 2013 after they met in Las Vegas, dropped her head in dismay as she was handed the green-and-white striped NYPD flag that had covered her husband's coffin.
She clutched the neatly folded flag to her chest with her right hand, her fingers already wrapped around a crucifix.
Sgt. Matthew Gorman, who was wounded in the 42-bullet NYPD fusillade that killed Simonsen, arrived for the funeral in a wheelchair. He was among those in the church for the final blessing of the casket before Simonsen was taken away for burial.
O'Neill made it clear that none of the other seven officers involved in the shooting was responsible for the detective's death.
"All the police officers at that tragic shooting carry this grief with them for the rest of their lives," said the commissioner. "But let me tell you something: Those cops responded to a call for help. They didn't hesitate, and they are not to blame.
"The only two people responsible, the only two, are the career criminals who decided to go into that store and commit an armed robbery."
Monsignor David Cassato, an NYPD chaplain, told the crowd that Simonsen lived on within each person gathered inside the church.
"You don't say 'how much I love Brian' in the past tense," said Cassato. "And you can still touch Brian with that beautiful, beautiful gift of love. We hurt. We are in pain. But he lives in that kingdom of light, joy and peace.
"My brothers and sisters, a simple prayer: Brian, rest in God's peace, amen."
The suburban hamlet's population of 13,603 was expected to nearly double as an estimated 10,000 mourners showed up to pay their final respects to Simonsen, who spent his entire career in the 102nd Precinct in Queens.
O'Neill and Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea were among the early arrivals. NYPD Sgt. Conor McDonald, son of the late Detective Steven McDonald, attended the Mass as well.
Hundreds of officers traveled via a special Long Island Rail Road train traveling from Jamaica, Queens, to the Long Island funeral. By the time the train left the Babylon station, a police officer in dress blues filled almost every seat of the double-decker express. At Patchogue, the train was standing-room only _ and not a lot of room was left.
A conductor estimated the five-car train, with seats for about 650, carried hundreds more standing. The clack of ticket punching was conspicuously absent from a train packed with riders on a sad morning commute.
The quaint little suburban town with its Main Street USA feel was completely shut down as police and emergency sawhorses lined the sides of the two-lane street.
Blue ribbons festooned the light poles along Montauk Highway leading to the church. A massive American flag hung above the main drag approaching the church, passing streets like Squireville Road and, almost prophetically, Cemetery Lane.
The site of the funeral was not the 42-year-old Simonsen's parish, but was selected because of its 750-person capacity. Officers from Simonsen's precinct were among the first cops allowed inside.
