The FDNY is posthumously promoting Lt. Alison Russo, the Huntington paramedic who was fatally stabbed last week while having lunch in Queens.
The promotion, to captain, is due to take place at Russo’s funeral on Wednesday in Brookville, according to the FDNYwho oversees the city’s emergency medical service.
On Instagram, the department said in a statement: “Alison Russo was everything we were looking for in a leader for our department. A dedicated and accomplished 25-year veteran, she responded to thousands of emergencies, mentored many new paramedics and paramedics, cared deeply for the communities she served and set an incredible example to others at Station 49 and all the stations she called home throughout her outstanding career .”
“This posthumous promotion is a sign of our deep respect and admiration for all the courageous and selfless work she has done throughout her career,” the department added. “We will never forget it.”
Posthumous promotion, a common practice following deaths of uniformed personnel deemed by the department to have occurred in the line of duty, results in greater benefits for families.
Wednesday’s 11 a.m. funeral at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts on the LIU Post campus caps a three-day “celebration of life” for Russo that began with vigils on Monday and Tuesday.
Russo, 61, had been in office for 24 years. She was stabbed “numerous times” Thursday afternoon outside 40-19 20th Ave. in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens — around the corner from Station 49, where she was assigned — as she went to get food, according to the NYPD and a charging document.
Peter Zisopoulos, 34, of nearby 41st Street, is charged with second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. His scheduled arraignment, in Queens Criminal Court, was postponed for several days so that he could undergo a psychiatric examination, according to the court.
In an email Tuesday, Meris Campbell, spokeswoman for the Queens District Attorney’s Office, said the arraignment is expected to take place remotely Thursday morning.
No motive for the murder was revealed; the charging document says Zisopoulos made “statements and confessions”.
In the hours after the stabbing, the NYPD Chief of Detectives said eyewitnesses chased Zisopoulos from the scene to his apartment, where he barricaded himself before being persuaded by negotiators to police hostages.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City Hall.
