Flatbush’s 70th Precinct sponsors neighborhood blood drive

In Memory of Detective Dillon Stewart

November 28, 2016 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle

70th Precinct officers (left to right) Brown and Alava and Capt. Romero doing their part. Eagle photos by Arthur De Gaeta

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One week after helping hosting a Thanksgiving luncheon for the needy, Flatbush’s 70th Precinct is sponsoring a blood drive in memory of one of its own fallen officers.

Detective Dillon Stewart died on Nov. 28, 2005 after being shot and suffering cardiac arrest.

Stewart bravely served the Flatbush community he worked in, and this blood drive serves as a reminder of a life cut short, while celebrating an esteemed public servant who unselfishly lost his life while trying to protect the neighborhood he watched over.

Stewart was pursuing a driver when he was fatally shot through the heart. The driver fired five bullets into the officer’s patrol car, according to a report in The New York Times. Stewart was hit, but despite his wounds, he kept on driving for blocks in pursuit of the gunman.

Stewart was rushed to Kings County Hospital where a team of more than a dozen doctors spent five hours in the operating room trying to control the bleeding around Stewart’s heart. He was 35 years old when he died with his wife by his side. The police charged a 27-year-old man with first and second-degree murder and other related charges in Stewart’s shooting.

Then-Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a news conference that “Officer Stewart showed remarkable tenacity and courage in pursuing his assailant. Despite his horrific wounds he continued to drive his police car, keeping the shooter in sight.”

Stewart left behind his wife Leslyn, and two little girls, Alexis, 8, and Samantha, 3. The family attended the blood drive.

Detective Kim Walker of the 70th Precinct told the Brooklyn Eagle that her precinct conducts a blood drive three times a year, but that this one was special because it was dedicated to one of its own.