Below is the impact statement read in Brooklyn Supreme Court today by the four daughters of NYPD Det. Peter Figoski at the sentencing of his killer, Lamont Pride. The one joint statement was read in court, with each daughter taking a portion.
CHRISTINE FIGOSKI, 21:
On the evening of Sunday, December 11, my sisters and I went to bed with the worries of your average teenage girl. We were worried about studying for upcoming college final exams, and high school tests, and looking forward to going home for the Christmas holiday and having the family together.
We all got our normal “Night, I love you” text from Daddy, and only a few hours after, my sisters and I were faced with the tragedy that would impact the rest of our lives. The next events that happened that morning are events that will haunt us for the rest of our lives.
We were awoken by my Mom in a panic after hearing that Daddy had been in an accident. We were startled and from that moment on everything seemed to get worse.
We all came to the hospital to “Hope” and “Pray” that our Dad would pull through. Our Father was shot in the face, and still breathing at that moment, and even though as bad as his condition was, we still thought just somehow he would survive. Nothing at that moment felt real and till this day, it still doesn’t.
Two of us arrived at the hospital to see the grim faces of family members and the sad faces of hundreds of police officers that were lined up throughout the hospital.
The next several hours were some of the hardest of our lives as we were told that our Father died as a result of a gunshot to the face. We spiraled into the confusion of having to deal with the hard reality of having to prepare with life without our Dad.
CORINNE FIGOSKI, 15:
Our dad was our world, our everything. He was our hero, protector, role model and our best friend. He always made everything better. And not at one moment would any of us realize what it would be like without a father, it’s more than anyone could ever imagine. Everything our Dad did was for us. He was always trying his hardest to make us the best people we could be.
Now a day’s “Promise” is just a word. When people say, “I promise everything will get better, and it’s going to be OK,” it’s just a lie to us.Nothing will ever be the same again and we will never feel the way we used to.
We lay in bed for hours in the dark at night, thinking about every possible thing that has changed in our lives since December 12, 2011. Sometimes we want to believe that this world is hell and there is another peaceful world where our dad is now. I’m not sure if we are depressed, but we are constantly angry and sad, but we continue to put smiles on our faces and laugh and joke with one another like our Father would want. But inside we are numb, and broken. We find it so hard to be happy, sometimes we forget how to feel. The past is better than it is now, and the future is less resolved. When our father died, a part of us died inside. We realize that once you’re broken in certain ways, they couldn’t ever be fixed now, no matter how hard you try.
We forget what it’s like to be happy and we wish nothing more to go back to those times with our Father, where we were happy, and enjoying life. Every day is a constant struggle for us to do things that were once so common, like to go to school, have activities with our family and friends. We have to force ourselves to do things in order to make our Father proud, but none of us will ever be the same people before our father was killed. It’s scary to think that in a matter of seconds, our dad became just a memory. We never envisioned that one person, one moment, one night, could change our lives completely. Lamont Pride ruined that feeling, where we would wake up in the morning, and not feel pain, where you aren’t constantly missing someone.
CAITLYN FIGOSKI, 19:
Now we must push ourselves to get through life without our Dad not being here anymore to make us smile and give us advice and give us that extra push when we need it. And the thought of facing life without our Father by our sides is unimaginable. He made everything better and Lamont Pride stole that from us. Knowing that our dad died without a chance, by being shot in the face unmercifully, kills us inside.
Our Dad was taken from the world too soon. He had so many aspirations, and dreams that he still wanted to accomplish. He wanted to fix up the house, buy more land, travel to the Grand Canyon, get a motorcycle and now he will never be able to do those things. We will forever miss his laugh, smile, hugs, sense of humor, his jokes and all the annoying things that he used to do to us.
Our father will never be able to watch us grow into the strong independent women that he always wanted us to be. Our Dad will never be able to spend another holiday or birthday with us. He will not be able to see us graduate or go to the prom. He will no longer have the opportunity to teach us to drive. He will never be able to hold his grandchildren and spoil them with presents. The thought we find the most troublesome is that our father will never be able to walk us down the aisle at our weddings which is something that every father and daughter dream of. We would do about anything to have him back.
What we experienced is something that we hope no other family will ever have to endure. The image of looking down at our Father lying helplessly on the hospital bed, lifeless, will never be erased from our memories, or watching the doctor take our father off the machine, knowing there was nothing we could do to bring him back.
Lamont Pride robbed my sisters and I of having that trusted rock and confidant that we were so fortunate to have in our father. He could have chosen to try and slip by our father on the stairway of that basement and run away, or he could’ve chosen to drop the gun and surrender to police. Instead he chose to keep the gun in his hand, aim the gun at my dad’s face, and pull the trigger.
A Father and daughter’s bond is something extremely special and will never be broken, but now we must continue to mourn his loss for the rest of our lives.
The pain may subside, but our hearts will ache for the rest of our lives.
CAROLINE FIGOSKI, 17:
We request respectfully that you sentence Lamont Pride to the maximum sentence permitted under the law for being convicted of murder in the second degree and burglary in the first degree and that you sentence them to run consecutively.
We live with the understanding that the day might come that Lamont Pride might have the opportunity to walk out of prison a free man and resume the only life he knows. That is the life of crime. Please don’t give this “Monster” the opportunity to rob another family and give another family the heartache and suffering that Lamont Pride has given to our family.
Mr. Pride, if the day ever does come that you will become eligible for parole, you should know that my sisters and I, along with thousands of men and women of the NYPD will make sure we intend to petition the parole board to ensure that you never have the opportunity to walk out of prison a free man. You have the right to wake up every day, and breath, and enjoy the glory of being alive. Those are fundamental rights that you stole from our Father on a dark stairway on a cold night on Dec 12, 2011.
This left us into little pieces. We don’t really look forward to tomorrow, and today is just another drag.
I thank you for your time, and the courtesy of listening to our statement.
Christine, Caitlyn, Caroline, and Corrine Figoski