| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: Monday, July 16, 2001 |
Release #255 -01 |
| Contact: | Sunny Mindel / Sid Dinsay | (212) 788-2958 |
Nicholas Naquan Heyward, Jr. was born in Brooklyn on August 27, 1981. Nicholas attended local public schools and was an honor student. He was also a member of the I.S. 293 basketball team and regularly attended services at the Church of Garden Christ in Brooklyn.
On September 24, 1994, Nicholas was playing cops and robbers with his friends in a dimly lit hallway in the Gowanus Houses. At the same time, a housing police officer was pursuing a suspect in the Houses. Tragically, the officer mistook Nicholas's toy gun for a deadly weapon and opened fire, fatally shooting him.
Nicholas was a young man with a bright future whose life was sadly and accidentally cut short. His death, however, was not in vain. Today, because of this tragedy, the City has a law that requires toy guns sold in the five boroughs to be brightly colored, and to have a plug in the barrel so that police officers can more easily distinguish between a toy gun and the real thing.
I know that nothing can fully relieve the pain and sorrow that a parent suffers from the loss of a child. However, it is my sincere hope that by renaming this park in Nicholas's memory, we will bring a small semblance of peace to the Heyward family. I am, therefore, privileged to rename Gowanus Park, where Nicholas lived and played, in his honor.
For the reasons previously
stated, I will now sign the bill.
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