One a legacy cop, the other never thought he’d join, move up NYPD ranks

Two cops from opposite backgrounds — one the son of a legendary officer who famously forgave the teen who shot him, the other a Pakistani immigrant who joined the NYPD after seeing a recruitment billboard in Times Square — were promoted Friday at a poignant ceremony at police headquarters.

Their promotions, along with 221 other cops of different ranks, capped an emotional month for both men — newly-minted Deputy Inspector Conor McDonald and Inspector Muhammad Ashraf.

On July 16, the NYPD’s Police Academy in Queens was named after McDonald’s father, Steven McDonald, who was a 29-year-old officer in 1986 when he was shot and paralyzed by a teen bike thief in Central Park. McDonald forgave the teen, then spent his life as a voice for understanding and compassion before dying in 2017.

“My father loved this job,” his son said Friday. “My grandfather, my great-grandfather, my great-aunt also served as well. So we have a couple of hundred years in service. We love this city and we love this department.”

Ashraf, the commanding officer of the 47th Precinct in the Bronx, on Tuesday took part in a stationhouse memorial service honoring one of his officers, Didarul Islam, marking the first anniversary of the Park Ave. mass shooting in which Islam was shot dead.

“It sure is very emotional,” Ashraf said. “In that moment…my command needs me, the family of the deceased officer, they need me. You just have to be compassionate and physically and emotionally available at all times.”

Ashraf’s path to the NYPD was completely different than McDonald’s.

While the NYPD was a constant presence in McDonald’s upbringing, Ashraf immigrated to the U.S. at 21. Unable to speak English and with no money, he quickly learned the language and went to college.

“After graduating from college, I couldn’t find a reasonable job,” Ashraf remembered. “I was doing computer science and computer graphics. And one day I was in Times Square. I happened to see a big billboard that said, ‘Join the NYPD.’ There was a phone number there. I just decided to dial that number and showed up for my exam, and the rest is history.”

“I’m not one of those people who grew up dreaming that I wanted to be a police officer when I was a little kid,” Ashraf said.

McDonald, who works in the NYPD press office and got to know Ashraf well after Didarul was shot, said Ashraf’s story “is the coolest thing about this job.”

“There’s people from all different backgrounds,” he said. “We have so many stories, within our job, just incredible stories.”