NYPD Honors Officer Who 'Continues To Fight For His Life' After Being Dragged By Car In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- This month's NYPD promotion ceremony had special meaning Friday for a brave officer now fighting for his life.
As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, it was a ceremony filled with pomp and circumstance and undertones of sacrifice.
"I don't need to remind anyone about the risk you face each and every day," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said.
It's a risk every member of the NYPD knows all too well and a danger Officer Dalsh Veve faced almost five months ago, which kept him from being there Friday to receive his own honor.
"Dalsh is an outstanding cop and an extraordinary man who continues to fight for his life each and every day," O'Neill said.
Back in early June, the husband, father and nine-year veteran of the NYPD was investigating reports of shots fired in Brooklyn when he was dragged by a stolen car and critically injured.
"Dalsh was trying to question a 15-year-old about a shooting when the teenager hit the gas and sped off," said O'Neill.
With the husband and father still recovering in the critical care unit of a rehab facility, O'Neill promoted him to the rank of detective specialist Friday.
Carrying their 2-year-ol daughter, Dashy, Veve's young wife, Esther, accepted the honor on her husband's behalf – little Dashy warming up as she was given an NYPD hand puppet.
"Everybody in the city needs to know about that story. This is the courage that's displayed every day," O'Neill said.
It's a sacrifice this mother and baby are living through each day, with the NYPD vowing to support them every step of their own hero's recovery.
The 15-year-old driver was charged with assault and attempted murder in the case. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Also promoted Friday was Rosa Rodriguez, a housing officer whose lungs were badly burned in a Coney Island arson fire three years ago.
"She struggles every day to do something that we all take for granted and that's to breathe," O'Neill said, adding she hopes to return to work.