Mom: Shirley teen Anthony Stinson's organs a 'gift of health and life'

The organs of a 13-year-old boy on life support since a Suffolk police vehicle hit him Saturday night in Shirley will be taken Wednesday for donation, his mother said, so other children can have "the gift of health and life."

Claudia Stinson said Tuesday that leading up to the procedure at Stony Brook University Hospital, an honor walk will include family and friends of her son Anthony as he is wheeled into an operating room. 

“I want people to see this, and I want other parents to feel the honor when they lose a child to provide other kids with the gift of health and life,” Stinson said. “This will allow us to say goodbye to Anthony.”

The eighth-grader at William Paca Middle School, where he was known as a standout athlete regardless of the sport, was hit about 7:50 p.m. Saturday by a Suffolk police vehicle as he rode a bicycle west across William Floyd Parkway at the Adobe Drive intersection in Shirley, the authorities said. The police officer driving the southbound patrol vehicle — its lights and sirens activated and with a green traffic light — had been responding to a call for an elderly woman in distress in Shirley, police said. 

Officer on duty

Police investigators want to find out how fast the cruiser was traveling at the time of the incident. The officer driving the patrol vehicle remains on active duty, according to Suffolk police, who had not provided an update on the investigation as of late Tuesday.

Anthony, who suffered severe head injuries, was pronounced brain dead shortly after 1:30 p.m. Monday at Stony Brook University Hospital, said Claudia Stinson. He was placed on life support to preserve his organs for donation.

Stinson said she planned to invite 20 to 30 children to the hospital Wednesday.

In the meantime, she was staying by her son’s side Tuesday at Stony Brook, where he remained on life support.

Outside the family home on Adobe Drive, just up the block from where Anthony was hit, his friends — still processing the incident that brought them there — rode bikes and played soccer and volleyball in his memory.

They assembled a memorial on the home's driveway, with Anthony's soccer and football jerseys hanging from a nearby fence. Surrounding a memorial that included a football, soccer ball and basketball: flickering candles, flowers and a bag of Anthony's two favorite treats, Doritos and cheese fries.

“His friends just want to be in his yard. These guys are healing together and want to be around each other,” said Ray Dhyne, 43, who lives across the street. “He loved sports and he loved his friends. He was just a child.”

Neighborhood hangout

Anthony’s house had become a neighborhood hangout where kids came to play soccer, football or go swimming. His next-door neighbor, Ada Santa, said she watched as Anthony rode off on his bike Saturday to play football with friends at a park across William Floyd Parkway.

“I said, ‘Anthony, be good and be careful,” Santa said, standing watch over the home Tuesday while Claudia Stinson remained with her son at Stony Brook.

Stinson said Monday that Anthony had been returning home from the park, intent on getting there before 8 p.m. as promised. He stopped for a Slurpee at 7-Eleven and had nearly made it back safely when Stinson said she heard the crash from outside their home just up the block.

“I heard the bang so loudly, and my heart, I just ran and I saw my son,” Stinson said. “That feeling, I cannot explain.”

Stinson said she knew her son's injuries were devastating. 

“I understood that nobody comes out of it,” Stinson said, referring to the severity of Anthony's head wound.

“But I’m Catholic," she added, "and sometimes your faith is stronger than what everyone else thinks. I kept waiting for the miracle. The miracle that never came.”

'Everything changed'

After striking Anthony, the police officer's cruiser crashed into a car stopped in traffic, then hit a tree and two parked cars near the Margin Drive intersection with William Floyd Parkway, police said Sunday. 

The officer had swerved in an attempt to avoid the teen, causing her police cruiser to strike the other vehicles, police said. Anthony was in critical condition when he was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital on Saturday night, police said. The officer suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from the same hospital, according to police. No one else was injured.

Anthony had just joined his middle school football team, where he was supposed to be the team placekicker, but they had yet to have their first game.

Back at the family home Tuesday, Ryan Dhyne, 12, described Anthony as a "good friend," someone whose home was known as after-school headquarters for the teenager and his friends. 

“The day he got hit, we were going to ride and we were supposed to have a late-night swim," Ryan said, "but then he got hit and everything changed.”