NEW YORK – A newly minted detective with the New York Police Department inherited his late grandfather’s gold shield during a promotion ceremony in Queens on Tuesday, according to a report.
Scott McDevitt, 28, is the honoree-grandson who received the beloved shield. His grandfather, Henry McDevitt, was a detective in the Bronx who was killed when he fell from a ladder while responding to a call of a burglary on June 26, 1977. Henry’s son and Scott’s dad, Bill McDevitt, was 10 when his father suffered the line-of-duty death, the New York Post reported.
Bill’s mother, Scott’s grandmother, has since passed away, but Bill attended his son’s promotion ceremony at the NYPD Academy. He told the news outlet that early on he had mixed feelings about his son’s decision to join the department.
“I wasn’t crazy about it at first, having lost my dad at 10,” Bill McDevitt said. “My mom wasn’t thrilled about it at first, either. But once we knew that that’s really what [Scott] wanted to do, we of course backed him on it.”
Newly minted NYPD Detective Scott McDevitt received his late grandfather’s gold shield. (Image via New York Post)
While working as a patrol officer, Scott had been wearing his grandfather’s patrolman’s badge.
“We’re very proud of him and ecstatic that he’s now giving up his patrolman’s badge, which was my father’s, and getting his detective badge,” Bill said of Scott.
Bill said his father died as “he and his team were going into an apartment building” to check out a report of a burglary. “Two of the guys went through the front door, and he was on a ladder going in through the window. The ladder gave way.”
During the fall, the elder McDevitt shattered his leg. He had emergency surgery but died from a blood clot at the hospital.
Bronx Detective Henry McDevitt died as a result of a fall in 1977. (Image via New York Post)
“They called him ‘Pappy’ because he already had five sons when he joined the department,” his son fondly recalled.
Detective Henry McDevitt was honored during a street-renaming ceremony at West 14th Street and Long Island Avenue in Deer Park, LI, in 2021.
Street Renaming Ceremony at West 14th Street & Long Island Avenue in Deer Park, in loving memory of @NYPDDetectives Henry McDevitt. Detective McDevitt died from injuries he received when he fell from a ladder while on a burglary call on June 26, 1977.#NeverForget pic.twitter.com/wONycKRLkm
— NYPD Ceremonial Unit (@NYPDCeremonial) November 13, 2021
Following his father’s death, Bill’s mother became immersed with what is now Survivors of the Shield, a nonprofit that offers “assistance to the widows, widowers & children of NYPD Officers killed in the performance of their duties,” according to its Instagram account.
As a result of his mother’s work, Bill spent a considerable amount of time during summer vacation each year with other families who lost loved ones to a line-of-duty death, according to The Post.
“It was one of those things where you just knew that everyone was in the same boat,” Bill said of the unique experience.
