This Coney Island corner will always have a cop.
Friends and family of slain Police Officer Leon Fox gathered at W. 12th Street and Surf Avenue — where the patrolman was shot and killed escorting a theater manager to deposit receipts at a local bank in 1941 — for a street co-naming ceremony in his honor on July 15.
“Police Officer Leon Fox was beloved by his colleagues and known to be a good man and a good cop, who left a significant, positive impact on his fellow Southern Brooklynites. That legacy of commitment and devotion to New York City will never be forgotten – and that street sign will make sure of it,” said Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who championed the memorial for Fox.
The memorial comes 78 years after Fox’s murder, and honors the fallen lawman with a sign reading “Police Officer Leon Fox Way.”
Officer Albert Mammon of the 60th Precinct — which covers Coney Island, Sea Gate, and parts of Brighton Beach — contacted Councilman Chaim Deutsch to suggest renaming the corner in Fox’s honor, according to the legislator.
Monday’s ceremony was attended by hundreds of community members and city officials, including First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker, Deputy Commissioner Robert Ganley, Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison, and Deutsch. Fox’s only son Gerald Fox, 85, flew from California to attend the ceremony. Gerald Fox was 6 years old when his father passed in the line of duty.
