BABYLON, N.Y. -- Thousands of police officers from New York City and beyond paid tribute Monday to a patrolman shot to death during a botched robbery in Brooklyn, recalling the 22-year veteran as both a dedicated lawman and devoted father of four daughters.
Officer Peter Figoski, 47, of West Babylon, preferred working the midnight-to-8 shift, officials said, in part so he could spend more time with his family. He was responding to a report of an apartment break-in Dec. 12 in the 75th Precinct in the East New York neighborhood.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed the officer's family in brief remarks, specifically Figoski's daughters, Carolyn, 16, and Corrine, 14, both in high school, and Christine, 20, and Caitlyn, 18, who are in college upstate.
"As the father of daughters, I understand the bonds you share with your dad, how much you miss him," Bloomberg said in remarks piped through loudspeakers to the thousands of officers lined up outside St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Babylon, on Long Island. The mayor said the officer, who earned 12 medals and more than 200 arrests in his career, was posthumously promoted to detective, first-class.
"Knowing your father was a hero, however, doesn't make it any easier these days," Bloomberg said. "Knowing your dad was revered in the NYPD doesn't make his passing less painful."
A family spokesman and friend of Figoski's read two letters during the funeral Mass, one from the officer's ex-wife thanking him for helping to raise four wonderful daughters.
The second was from the girls commenting on how overwhelmed they have been in the past week with the outpouring of support from Figoski's fellow officers, who often told tales of his bravery on the streets of New York, a world away from the suburban home they had enjoyed together.
"We now feel connected to a side of our dad we rarely saw at home," Juan Mendez said on behalf of the daughters.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly noted that Figoski's career paralleled New York City's monumental drop in crime over the past two decades.
"He joined the police department in 1988, when the crack epidemic was on the rise and violent crime was at its peak. Pete was on the front lines and he handled everything that came his way," Kelly said.
The commissioner noted later that crime plummeted by 90 percent in the 75th Precinct during his 22 years of service there.
"Pete wasn't one to seek recognition. He didn't feel the need for praise. But let there be no mistake about this: Peter Figoski was at the forefront of a crime-fighting revolution that changed New York City forever. He was a hero for the way he lived and for what he helped to accomplish."
The casket with the NYPD green-and-white flag holding Figoski's body was led into the church in Babylon by a processional of bag pipes and drums. A lone piper played "Amazing Grace." His daughters, relatives and friends trailed behind.
Uniformed officers from the NYPD, Suffolk, and Nassau departments, state police from New York and New Jersey, and officer from upstate New York communities lined up to pay respect. It was so crowded that some officers stood on the nearby Long Island Railroad platform and stood in salute as Figoski's casket was returned to a hearse after the Mass. He was buried in a community cemetery.
Figoski and his partner were providing backup to two officers questioning a victim and two suspects in a Brooklyn apartment robbery investigation when an alleged gunman later identified as Lamont Pride and another man tried to flee, police said.
During a struggle between the officer's partner and one of the suspects, Figoski came face-to-face with Pride, who police said shot him with a semiautomatic handgun before Figoski could draw his own weapon.
His partner pursued Pride on foot and captured him several blocks away, police said.
Pride is charged with first-degree murder. The other four are charged with second-degree murder.
Prosecutor Kenneth Taub said the five — all jailed without bail — had plotted to "commit a home invasion of a small-time marijuana dealer." He called Pride the "muscle of the organization" and said the defendant "made a choice to end the officer's life rather than be arrested."
Pride was already wanted in a non-fatal shooting in North Carolina but remained on the streets because arrest warrants didn't require his return there, NYPD officials said.
He had been arrested twice in recent months in New York for weapons and drug possession. Each time, he was released after police found they had no grounds to hold him under the North Carolina warrants, Kelly said.
Pride also served a short prison term in North Carolina for robbery.
