Public Employee Press

Profile in Public Service
Circle of sorrow

Sr. Police Administrative Aide Pat Solomon
Pat Solomon leads a Bronx group that helps families heal themselves after violence strikes.

By JANE LaTOUR

Daily photos in the city’s tabloids capture the faces of the young, cut down in the prime of their lives. In October, when two young black men were murdered, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that despite the drop in crime statistics, “Young men are dying on the streets from guns every day.”

On July 19, 1996, Pat Solomon was working as a Senior Police Administrative Aide when her son Gregory became a “John Doe” at Jacobi Hospital. Ever since, Solomon spends one Saturday a month at Calvary Hospital, comforting members of other bereaved families. While she is now a full-time grievance rep in DC 37’s Clerical Division, Solomon also devotes a large part of her life to coordinating the Bronx/Westchester Chapter of the national organization, Parents of Murdered Children.

“When we come to this group, we come broken. We come sad, like we will never be whole again, because our child is gone,” said Solomon. “Veteran members help us cope and focus on the loving memories we have of our child.”

Grief and rage are just part of the aftermath of losing a loved one to violence. The group also helps the families survive the legal system. “During the trial of my son’s murderer, four members came to court with me,” said Solomon. “They sat with me and offered strength and support.”

The trial can be excruciating, especially if the system exonerates the guilty party, as it did for the man who murdered Solomon’s son. “I watched him in court,” she said. “He was playing a game on his lawyer’s laptop computer like it was just an ordinary day. For me, it was the most horrific day. I raised my two sons as a single mother. I got them through things I didn’t think we could get through. I thought we had got to the stage where I didn’t have to worry any more.”

Solomon was able to offer her strength and wisdom to co-worker Sheila Sanders, another SPAA, when her son was killed. “I had worked with her for years at the 3rd Precinct,” said Solomon. “She was so devastated.”

Solomon’s son, Gregory Alan Lawrence, was 37 when he was murdered. “My son had made his mark already,” said Solomon. “At his funeral, there were so many people who told me how he had touched their lives. But I think of all the 14 and 15-year olds who are murdered. My heart bleeds for those families who lost their children before they had a chance to thrive.”

Advocating for the victims of violence is an important part of the group’s mission. Some members attend events sponsored by the Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Others help parents of 9/11 victims cope with their loss. “In December, we have a candlelight walk as a memorial to our children,” said Solomon.

“It took me a long and hard time to recover,” she said. Now Solomon is a strong shoulder and a wise presence for other families to lean on as they seek to make sense of their world again — a world forever full of triggers to remind them of their senseless loss.