An NYPD recruit graduating the Police Academy Thursday knew he wanted to be a police officer at age 9 — ever since he witnessed a cop save his sister’s life and later become a guardian angel for his entire family.
On March 12, 1998, Xavier Duran was crossing 36th Ave. in Corona, Queens, with his mother, Ana, brother, Luiny, and sister, Jeannette, when a Mistic Iced Tea delivery truck plowed into them, crushing his sister’s leg.
A second later, NYPD Sgt. Lino Minetto and his partner Police Officer Lisa Cordero arrived at the scene, grabbed Jeannette and put her in the back of their patrol car before an ambulance could arrive.
Minetto cradled Jeannette in his arms, keeping the tot awake by asking her how old she was and her favorite color as his partner raced them to Elmhurst Hospital Center — saving the child’s life.
“I wanted to do what he did for my family,” Duran said about Minetto, who Jeannette affectionally calls “uncle.”
“I wanted to do that to another family — to make a change, make a difference,” the 35-year-old rookie reflected about the now-retired sergeant’s heroic save.
Minetto, who left the department in 2006, will be joining Duran’s family at Madison Square Garden Thursday when Xavier graduates with 588 of his fellow recruits.
Thursday’s graduating class will include 454 men and 154 women. Out of that number, 137 were born in another country, NYPD officials said.
When he joined the NYPD, Duran was asked to write an essay — known as a “49” in cop speak — about why he wanted to become a cop. He didn’t have to think twice, he said.
“He basically saved us,” Duran said. “I said, I had to do the same for someone else, and I’m going to do it.”
Minetto and Cordero were just three blocks away when the call came over about the 8:30 a.m. accident.
“I saw the gravity of the situation,” Minetto said, “and decided to basically scoop her up, throw her in a plastic blanket we had and take her to the hospital because she was bleeding profusely.”
The doctors at Elmhurst Hospital ultimately had to amputate Jeannette’s leg, but the little girl lived and thrived despite all the odds against her, Minetto said.
“My report was going to say [she] was likely to die,” Minetto recalled. “That’s what we expected. But [then] I saw over a dozen family members in the room next door all on their hands and knees all praying. Between the doctors and power of prayer and the incredible strength of this young lady, that’s what saved her. I just got her there quick enough so that could happen.”
Investigators later determined that the crash was caused by heavy sun glare temporarily blinding the driver as he made a turn at the intersection. The driver, who remained at the scene and called 911, was hit with several summonses, but never charged criminally.
As Jeannette recovered, Minetto, who also grew up in Corona, was quickly adopted by Duran’s family. A few months later, when he received $250 from the New York State Police Surgeon’s Life Saving Award in appreciation for his quick-thinking save, he used it to start a fundraising effort to raise money for Jeannette’s medical care and schooling.
“Minetto is a hero, but not the kind easily satisfied,” the Daily News wrote at the time. “He doesn’t want praise as much as imitation. He has called on New Yorkers to open their wallets and match the money he has donated.”
The humble Minetto remembers how good it felt watching complete strangers walk into the 105th Precinct stationhouse in Queens and “give us $50 or whatever they could to the fund.”
“I just did what anybody would do and what everyone should do,” he said about his fundraising efforts.
Over the years, Minetto would show up at the Duran home and see Jeannette, who was fitted with a prosthetic leg, continue to grow. She never let her handicap stop her as she swam, rollerbladed and rode her bike around the neighborhood.
“I came by to say hi one time and she was on roller skates,” Minetto remembered. “The next time I saw her she was up in a tree.”
Minetto, whose own daughter was about Jeannette’s age at the time of the accident, felt an instant connection with the child he cradled in his arms during that breakneck race to the hospital.
“There was a juxtaposition with my daughter and [Jeannette] at the accident,” he remembered. “I did feel I was looking at my daughter for a brief second.”
Jeannette, now 32, remembers Minetto trying to keep her awake in the back of the squad car and being a presence during her recovery. Minetto attended her grade school graduation, sweet 16 party, high school graduation and her wedding, where husband Andy Payamps, 35, met the family hero for the first time.
“I was nervous the day of the wedding but more nervous to meet him because I wanted his approval,” Payamps said. “Because of him, she’s here.”
Jeannette credits Minetto for saving her. Meanwhile, her close-knit family helped, as she put it, “make me feel like nothing has changed.”
“My life has been normal. They’ve made it as normal as possible,” she said of her parents and siblings. “They have made me feel like I had no limits. My mother always pushed me not to let anybody tell me that I couldn’t do something.”
When Xavier said he planned to attend the Police Academy, neither Jeannette nor the rest of her family were surprised at the news.
“He has always been the protector of the family,” she said of her older brother. “He’s always the one looking out for us. I remember us being very young and him saying he wanted to become a police officer.”
Two weeks ago, Jeannette reached out to Minetto and asked him to attend her brother’s graduation.
“He’s in his 30s, I said, ‘What graduation?’” he recalled. “They said, ‘The Police Academy.’ I said, ‘What?’
“It was a good surprise,” he said, smiling.