Honoring a police officer slain in the line of duty almost six decades ago, family members of Officer Thomas J. Gargan will be joined on March 21 by Sixth Precinct officers at Bank and Washington Sts. for the unveiling of a street co-naming sign in his memory.
On Aug. 17, 1947, Officer Gargan and his partner responded to a burglary at 132 Bank St., a building owned by artist Philip Evergood. Evergood, who was vacationing on Fire Island, kept a Very pistol, also known as a flare gun, along with 12-gauge shotgun shells, which the gun was capable of firing. The burglar fatally shot Officer Gargan with the Very pistol. Gargan’s partner shot and killed the burglar.
The Villager raised a fund for the fallen officer’s family, without which they couldn’t have paid the mortgage on their Queens home, said William Gargan, a retired Nassau County court officer who is one of the slain officer’s sons. He said a “flurry of renaming” of streets after 9/11 inspired them.
“I’m glad we thought of it. It’s a nice thing,” he said. While the city gave the family $123 a month after their father’s death, The Villager raised $4,000 for them.
“It allowed us to keep the house and live with a measure of dignity,” he said. “The Villager carried the ball — it was the Village itself.”
