The Spectrum

Issue date: 2/2/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Contributed Photo/Athletic Department Hernandez became one of N.Y.'s Finest after graduating from SHU

Long before he was the NYPD's first victim of friendly-fire in over a decade, and before he was the heart and soul of the NYPD football team, even before he entered the police force as a wide-eyed college grad with everything to prove...Eric Hernandez from White Plains, N.Y., was a Sacred Heart student and athlete, one who attempted to make a difference in everything he partook in.

Mark Nofri was a member of the coaching staff while Hernandez played football for SHU. He remembers that becoming a cop was not always a dream of Hernandez's, but he is not surprised at the path chosen by his former running back/punt returner.

"The profession he chose represents the kind of person that he is," Nofri said.

Sacred Heart Athletic Director Don Cook also knows Hernandez from his football years. He knows him as a record-setting running back and member of one of SHU Football's all-time great teams. He also knows Hernandez as a tough competitor who did his best in every aspect of his life.

"Eric was a hard worker who took pride in his best effort," Sacred Heart Athletic Director Donald Cook said. "He loved football, he loved Sacred Heart, and he loved life."

But on Jan. 28, Hernandez was involved in a heartbreaking case of mistaken identity in the wrong place at the wrong time, leaving him in very critical condition in St. Barnabas Hospital in N.Y. On Tuesday, surgeons amputated his lower right leg in efforts to help save his life.

The amputation "was necessitated by the continuing deterioration of the condition of the leg, compromising his medical condition even further," the hospital released to the media.

Details of the case are still under investigation as is his condition, but a general timeline of events has been released to the public.

Hernandez, after a night out on the town, off-duty, entered a White Castle in the Bronx early Saturday morning. When he first entered, he encountered a group of people in a confrontation with restaurant employees. Security cameras caught a group of five men and one woman apparently 'jump' Hernandez. The group knocked him to the floor, kicking and stomping as he vainly tried to fend off the blows. This was after witnesses say he had already announced himself as "NYPD.," avoiding getting involved in the altercation.

Continued...

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