Yonkers street renamed in honor of Rita Gross Nelson, first woman of color patrol cop
YONKERS, N.Y. -- A street in Yonkers is now marked with a sign honoring Rita Gross Nelson, the first woman of color to serve as a patrol cop in Westchester County.
Nelson made history and a difference in countless lives, CBS2's Tony Aiello reported.
You could feel the love Thursday as the sign honoring Nelson was unveiled in the neighborhood where she held court, keeping local kids on the straight and narrow and delivering tough love with a gentile touch.
"When you were corrected by her, and you all were, that you were corrected with love," said Christopher Johnson, a Yonkers native.
Nelson had to be tough. In 1965, she became the first Black woman to serve as a patrol cop in Yonkers, blazing a trail for others, including Fredricka Hreyo, the second Black woman to join the force.
"She gave me her leather jacket when I came on. She gave me a lot of advice. Just, that the road she had to trod, it was harder then. Not that it's easy now, but it was harder then. As a woman, as a Black female, she did it with intelligence, with grace and with strength. She was wonderful," said Hreyo, who is now retired.
Pretty much everyone at the gathering had a story to tell about Nelson. The current Yonkers police commissioner met her years ago answering a call for service outside her home.
It was late at night. Nelson came up to him wearing pajamas and a bathrobe.
"She opened up her bathrobe, and she had a gun and a shield and she says, 'Don't worry about it Sarge, I have your back,'" Yonkers Police Commissioner Chris Sapienza said.
Maria George affectionately calls her mother, who died in 2015, a "peace-loving dragon."
"She protected those who needed protecting. She singed those that would harm those that needed protecting. She was just amazing, an amazing spirit," George said.
Nelson's memory is enshrined on the sign and in the hearts of those who knew her.
After retiring in the 1980s, Nelson worked as private security to many VIPs, including Coretta Scott King and Shirley Chisolm.