QUEENS — A Jamaica police officer who was shot and killed in 1971 while trying to prevent an armed robbery will soon have a street renamed after him, city officials said.
The intersection of 91st Avenue and 188th Street in Hollis will carry the name of Police Officer Kenneth Nugent, a 13-year NYPD veteran who was assigned to the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, according to the office of Councilman I. Daneek Miller.
Nugent was on his way to work on Saturday, Aug. 21, 1971, when he stopped at a luncheonette on Hollis Avenue, near 208th Street, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a website dedicated to honoring slain officers.
Nugent walked into the luncheonette as three men were trying to rob the manager.
The officer drew his weapon and told the robbers to drop their guns, but instead the men opened fire and shot him in the head.
Nugent was able to shoot and kill one suspect before he got hit, the site said. The lawman was rushed to Long Island Jewish Hospital where he died in surgery several hours later.
Two other suspects were later arrested and charged with murder. The men were initially sentenced to death, but their sentence was later reduced to 25 years to life. One of them was paroled in 1995, while the other was paroled in 2005.
Nugent was survived by his wife and eight children, the website said.
The bill to rename the street after Nugent was signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio last week. The bill also renamed streets around the city after 47 other fallen officers and civic leaders, including slain NYPD Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
The office of Councilman Miller said that the date for the official renaming ceremony has not yet been decided.
The intersection of 91st Avenue and 188th Street, about 20 blocks away from where he was shot, was chosen because it's near St. Gerard Majella church, where Nugent attended services.
