04-05-08
#11
Cancer-stricken teenager sworn in as Mount Vernon Police
Commissioner for a day
On Friday,
April 4, in the Mayor's Conference Room, Mayor Clinton
I. Young Jr., along with Police Commissioner David Chong,
swore in Scott
McMurray as Honorary Police Commissioner for the Day.
McMurray, a cancer-stricken 19-year-old from White
Plains dreams of one day entering a career in law
enforcement like longtime friend of the family, Joseph
Russo, a Mount Vernon police officer. He is currently
enrolled as a freshman at SUNY Delhi upstate. In
January, McMurray learned he had a rare form of cancer
called Desmo Plastic Small Round Cell Tumor. The
condition is so rare that only 50 people have been
diagnosed with it nationally and about 200 world-wide,
said his mother, Christina McMurray.
McMurray said at the press conference that he was preparing
to undergo cancer surgery to have his kidney and tumors
removed.
Since learning of his rare condition in January, McMurray has
been undergoing cancer treatment at Montefiore Medical
Center in the Bronx, which has contributed to the lost
of his hair due to chemotherapy treatment.
"If anyone is strong enough to fight this I think it is
Scott," said Mount Vernon traffic police officer, Joseph
Russo, who is a former neighbor of the McMurrays.
Commissioner Chong learned about McMurray's plight when
Russo asked if he could post fliers for a blood
drive in and around Police Headquarters, which will be
donated in McMurray's honor. It was then that the idea
came up to make McMurray Police Commissioner for a day.
"When I heard about Scott's desire to be a police
officer, I quickly contacted the mayor and asked if
Scott could be the first recipient of our newly
resurrected Police Commissioner for a Day program. Mayor
Young thought it was a great idea and we all agreed that
McMurray was a deserving candidate," said Commissioner
Chong during the press conference.
According to McMurray's parents, Eugene and Christiana
McMurray, the blood drive in their son's honor will be
June 1 at the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church Upper
Children's House in Scarsdale.
At the end of the press conference, Scott was given a plaque
by the Mount Vernon Police Benevolent Association, along
with a Mount Vernon Police Department Commissioner's cap
and an ID card, identifying him as Mount Vernon Police
Commissioner for a day.
