South Jamesport Avenue will bear the honorary designation “Detective Brian Simonsen Way.”
The Riverhead Town Board is poised to adopt the designation at its next board meeting Tuesday.
Simonsen, a New York City police officer killed in the line of duty Feb. 12, grew up in Jamesport. He attended Riverhead High School, where he played varsity football and baseball, graduating in 1995. He earned the nickname “Smiles” because of his smiling face and kind disposition.
Simonsen, 42, was a 19-year NYPD veteran. He was killed responding to a report of an armed robbery in the Queens precinct he served.
He is interred in Jamesport Cemetery on South Jamesport Avenue, the road he lived on. Simonsen was a resident of Calverton at the time of his death.
“[T]he Jamesport Fire Department requested that the town honor Simonsen’s life of public service and dedication to our community,” according to the resolution to be voted on Tuesday evening.
The honorary designation will not change the official name of the road or street addresses on South Jamesport Avenue.
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