An NYPD officer sang a star-spangled salute to her fallen father Sunday, accompanied by 82,500 fellow Americans marking a sad day in U.S. history.
NYPD Officer Brianna Fernandez sang the U.S. national anthem Sunday before the New York Jets played the Baltimore Ravens at MetLife Stadium. She got the crowd of patriotic fans to sing along on the 21st anniversary of the tragic terrorism on September 11, 2001.
Officer Fernandez’s father, Detective Luis G. Fernandez died from a 9/11 related illness in October 2014, according to an NYPD post to Twitter. The departmental post called the 2021 police academy graduate’s father a hero.
She was given her deceased father’s police shield to wear while in uniform during an April 2021 ceremony that featured her mother, Maritza, pinning the shield on her uniform blouse. The Detectives’ Endowment Association post to the September 11th Families’ Association Facebook page said Luis [Fernandez] would be proud his daughter bears his shield.
Watch:
Fernandez always loved to sing and began taking singing lessons at age 11. She told the Hofstra Chronicle how the NYPD’s Garden of Dreams Foundation creates once-in-a-lifetime experiences for kids experiencing rough times.
“Within a year of my dad passing, I got an email from the fund saying that they have auditions for this talent show so I auditioned, and I got to sing at the talent show hosted at Radio City, which was incredible,” Fernandez stated.
The rookie officer explained she continued singing with the organization for a few years. In 2014, the nonprofit informed her the NY Rangers were conducting a Hockey Fights Cancer night and invited her to open the game by performing the national anthem.
She said it was an incredible experience because she is a Rangers fan who used to watch their games regularly with her dad.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.