Guyana-born New York cop dies in accident

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:02 by GxMedia

Patrick Prince, a Guyanese born New York Police Department (NYPD) officer died after he lost control of his vehicle that slammed into a tree last Thursday.

Relatives said that Prince was on his way home after ending his shift when the accident occurred in the early hours of the morning.

He wanted to be a cop since he was a kid, but an NYPD officer’s dream-come-true ended Thursday before his rookie year was up.

Officer Prince, 22, died in a Brooklyn car cash while on his way home after wrapping up his 7:30 p.m.-to-3:30 a.m. tour in the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville.

“He was a good person, and a good son,” his heartbroken mother, Claudette Prince, told the Daily News.

Scrolling through family photos on an iPad at her Flatbush home, her teary eyes staring at photos of her son in his uniform.

“He always wanted to be one of the city’s Finest,” his mother said. “He took the exam when he was 18, the first chance he got.” He had to wait until he was 21 before he could join the NYPD — which he finally did in July.

Prince was driving west on Kings Highway in East Flatbush when he lost control of his car. Drifting off the road, the car slammed into a tree near Beverly Rd. at 4:15 a.m., sources said.

First responders desperately tried to get the officer out of his mangled vehicle, a witness said.  “They had to cut him out of the car,” said he man, who did not want his name published. “It took about 10 minutes. It was bad.” He was taken to Brookdale University Hospital, but could not be saved. No one else was hurt in the accident.

Hours after the crash, the pain of losing the young cop just as he was realizing his life-long ambition spread throughout his family.

“He said he was going to make detective,” said Prince’s mother, confident he would have reached the goal. “We were proud of him. My father was a police officer. His father’s father was a police officer back in our country,” said the mother, an immigrant of Guyana.

He graduated from Kingsborough Community College in 2010 with a degree in criminal justice. To put himself through college, he became a security guard, said his aunt, Marilyn Prince. Recalling the first time her nephew put on his security guard uniform, the aunt said, “He said it just felt right.