Queens street renamed to honor Clifford Glover, 10-year-old killed by police

Queens street co-naming honors Clifford Glover, boy killed by police in 1973

An emotional ceremony on Friday honored the memory of Clifford Glover. Glover was just 10 years old when he was shot and killed by a plainclothes NYPD officer who approached him and his stepfather on April 28, 1973.

QUEENS - There was an emotional street co-naming ceremony on Friday in Queens honoring the memory of Clifford Glover.

Clifford Glover was just 10 years old when he was shot and killed by a plainclothes police officer in an unmarked car.

Clifford was the youngest person killed by the NYPD.

Many say the street naming is long overdue--50 years in the making.

The corner of 112th Road and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in South Jamaica will now be known as Clifford Glover Road.

"This means a lot to me," his sister Darlene Armstead said.

On the morning of April 28th, 1973, Clifford Glover was walking to work with his stepfather when they were stopped by two undercover officers.

Thomas Shea and his partner Walter Scott believed Glover and his stepfather had just committed a robbery.

According to Shea, the two ran off when he tried to question them. Glover was shot in the back and, according to records, Shea said he pointed a weapon at him. Ballistic testing did not support his story and he was indicted for murder. Shea was later acquitted by a predominantly white jury in 1974.

The verdict prompted a group of outraged Queens residents to attack a visiting little league team and its supporters form Long Island. Mayor Adams, who was 12 years old at the time, was on the home team.

"They swarmed the field and started attacking the white young ball players from Long Island," Adams said.

This coaming of the street is exactly where Glover was shot.

"We're taking another step froward to ensure that Clifford's name and story are forever etched in the history of New York City," Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said.

Clifford Glover was in the fourth grade at P.S. 40 when he was killed and never got to graduate elementary school.

Alison Branker, the current principal, presented an official diploma to Glover's family.

The Glover family received a settlement believed to be $50,000 from the city, but they say his death tore the family apart.

Glover's sister said that while the street sign honors her brother, it is still bittersweet.

"When this sign came down and when they gave me this, everything that was so tied with anger or hurt kind of shattered," Darlene Armstead said.