Paralyzed hero cop Stephen McDonald visited embattled police officer Charles Schwarz yesterday in his prison cell – and prayed for the day when he would once again be free.
“In a way we’re very much alike,” said McDonald, who was shot in the back on July 12, 1986 as he patrolled Central Park. “I’m trapped in my body and he’s locked up in his cell.
“There’s so much that we’re not able to do because of what has happened to us.”
Schwarz remains incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan awaiting sentence for his conviction on federal charges of holding Abner Louima down while Officer Justin Volpe sexually tortured him.
Volpe insists that another officer, not Schwarz, was present when he sodomized Louima.
McDonald says he hopes Schwarz’s upcoming trial – which begins with jury selection Jan. 19 in federal court – will exonerate him.
Schwarz is charged with conspiring with two other cops to cover up his role in the Louima attack.
“I could appreciate the government wants to show the people that they’ve done their job, but having read the court minutes and listened to Chuck and his wife, I believe there’s an innocent man upstairs,” McDonald said as he sat in his wheelchair in front of the prison
“All I could offer him were my prayers.”
McDonald said he’ll attend the trial with Schwarz’s wife, Andra.
Last week, John Cardinal O’Connor wrote to Schwarz in jail, telling him he’s keeping the cop in his prayers.
Andra said the prayers and McDonald’s visit have done her husband a world of good.
“I just can’t wait for the truth to come out,” she said.