Anthony Stinson's organs donated to 5 people after Shirley teen was struck by Suffolk police officer's cruiser

The organs of a teen bicyclist fatally injured when a Suffolk police officer’s cruiser struck him in Shirley have been donated to five people in Massachusetts and New York, according to the nonprofit organization that coordinates organ and tissue donations in downstate New York.

The heart, lung, liver, kidneys and pancreas of the 13-year-old, Anthony Stinson,  went to patients ages 30 to 60, according to a statement Friday from the nonprofit organization LiveOnNY.

On Friday afternoon, his mom, Claudia Stinson, said: “Listen, I didn’t want my son to die so he can save lives. That would be a total lie. Losing my boy — I never even thought of it in my life that that would ever come, but once the facts had happened, God gave him. God take him. I don’t know why. I do have to accept what happened. I believe in helping others, and since my son couldn’t make it — live more — why not donate it?”

The organ donation keeps his legacy alive, she said.

“He’s staying here on Earth, helping others feel better. It makes me really proud of him — more — but the main things that got me proud of him is what he did when he was alive: his kindness to other kids, his dedication to his sports, to his school, his joyful life that he was able to enjoy and have. His health that God gave him — he was a healthy boy," his mother said.

Leonard Achan, the nonprofit’s president and chief executive, said in the statement: “Anthony saved the lives of 5 people between 30 and 60 years old, in Massachusetts and New York who were in need of a heart, lung, liver, kidneys, and pancreas transplants to have a second chance at life.”

Achan said one person got the teen's pancreas and a kidney.

The teen’s organs were transplanted beginning Wednesday night.  The last patient received a kidney on Thursday afternoon. 

Anthony had been on life support at Stony Brook University Hospital in anticipation of the removal of his organs for donation, his mom said earlier this week. He was declared brain dead on Monday and was removed from a ventilator Wednesday.  

The actions of the police officer who was driving when she struck Anthony are being investigated by State Attorney General Letitia James’ office, the office announced Thursday.

Anthony, an eighth-grader and athlete at William Paca Middle School in Mastic Beach, was struck about 7:50 p.m. Sept. 9 as he rode a bicycle west across William Floyd Parkway at the Adobe Drive intersection in Shirley, the police department said. A car stopped in traffic, a tree and two parked cars near the Margin Drive intersection with William Floyd Parkway also were struck.

The department said the officer  was driving south with the vehicle’s lights and sirens activated and had a green traffic light. The department said the officer was responding to a call for an elderly woman in distress in Shirley.

The officer’s speed and identity haven’t been disclosed.

As of August, there were 31,120 transplants performed of 26,529 deceased donors’ organs and 4,591 of living donors’ organs; 15,415 people donated organs; 10,829 were deceased and 4,586 were living, according to the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing,

LiveOnNY, the sole coordinator of organ and tissue donations for Long Island, New York City, Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley, in 2022 helped procure 1,300 organs from 478 deceased donors, according to Achan. In 75% of the cases, the recipients got kidneys, he said. About 80% of those on the waitlist for organs are people needing kidneys, he said.

Services for Anthony will be held in Center Moriches: a wake  from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Robertaccio Funeral Home, a funeral at 10:45 a.m. Monday at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, and burial afterward at Mount Pleasant.