Edgar Sandoval, Thomas Tracy New York Daily News
It was an NYPD Blue blessing.
As he was escorted into the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Friday, Pope Francis took a brief minute to address — then bless — a wheelchair-bound NYPD detective who has dedicated his career to fighting terrorists.
Pope Francis blesses wheelchair-bound Detective Terrence McGhee at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Friday morning. photo NY Daily News
Detective Terrence McGhee seemed visibly moved when the pope approached and laid hands on him.
McGhee, 55, was paralyzed after he nearly drowned in 2008 while on foreign assignment with the NYPD’s Joint Terrorist Task Force.
Despite his debilitating injuries, he vowed to remain with the elite unit, doing support work.
McGhee joined the department in 1987 and went on 40 missions overseas since he joined the elite FBI-NYPD unit after 9/11, tracking terror suspects in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia.
He was on a mission early last summer [sic – 2008] when, a day before he was to fly home, the avid athlete went swimming in Portugal.
He struck his head when he dove into shallow water and snapped two vertebrae.
