NYC to rename streets for slain policemen

New York City will honor the two policemen who were ambushed in their patrol car by a gunman in Brooklyn earlier this month by naming streets near their homes for them, Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito announced on Wednesday.

The city council is expected to take up the proposal next month.

Weinjin Liu and Rafel Ramos were shot dead on Dec 20 in Bedford-Stuyvesant by Ismaaiyl Brinsley. He fatally shot himself in a nearby subway shortly after the ambush. Both officers were promoted to detective posthumously.

The "Detective Rafael Ramos Way" and "Detective Wenjian Liu Way" would be on the Brooklyn blocks where the officers lived and were selected in consultation with their families. Liu lived on West Sixth Street, and Ramos on Ridgewood Avenue.

"Our fallen heroes will never be forgotten. Their memory lives on in their families, and in the NYPD family. And now it will live on in the streets of the communities these brave men lived in and protected. This is an expression of our pride in each of these men, and our sadness at their loss," de Blasio said in a statement.

Mark-Viverito said, "These courageous men were fathers, brothers and sons, and they were committed to the protection of every New Yorker who calls this city home. The street co-namings in honor of Detective Ramos and Detective Liu will stand as an ever-present testament to their legacy and memory, and will remind us all of the daily sacrifice of our brave men, women and families of the New York City Police Department to keep our city safe."

aiheping@chinadailyusa.com