New York police officer’s daughter born 3 years after his death

Credit: NYPD on Facebook

Prepare to have your heart warmed. Pei Xia Chen, the widow of murdered NYPD cop Wenjian Liu, has just given birth to his baby girl—three years after her husband’s death.

Liu was mortally wounded in 2014 after being shot in a random attack.

As he lay dying in the hospital, doctors asked Chen (who goes by the name “Sanny”) if she would like to preserve his sperm.

She said yes, and three years later after in-vitro fertilization, 6-pound baby girl Angel (short for “Angelina”) is the result.

Name Has Significance

The name has a deeper meaning for baby Angelina—it’s meant to honor her deceased dad.

Maria Dziergowski, Chen’s friend and a fellow widow of an New York policeman, told the New York Post that on the day Chen was underwent IVF, “she had a dream that Wenjian was there in a white gown looking like an angel and that he handed her a baby, and he said, ‘It’s a girl, a little angel.'”

wenjian liu photo
Getty Images | Kevin Hagen

Chen and Liu had always planned to have children.

Sadly, they’d been married for just three months when he was murdered alongside his partner, Rafael Ramos.

On Dec. 20, 2014, the two policemen were sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn when a man named Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot them both before killing himself.

Brinsley had shared plans of his intent to kill police officers earlier in the day in an Instagram post.

wenjian liu photo
Getty Images | Eric Thayer

Through the miracle of modern science, Chen was able to fulfill her dream of having a child with her late husband.

Liu’s parents, Wei Tang Liu and Xiu Yan Li, who immigrated from China with their only son in 1994, were with Chen at Weill Cornell Hospital when the baby was born.

Chen told NBC-affiliate New York Four that she can’t wait to tell her daughter that that her father was a hero, and to introduce her daughter to the NYPD, which she refers to as her “big blue family.”

wenjian liu photo
Getty Images | Kevin Hagen

The NYPD has already shared the happy news on their own Facebook page.

The post has been shared nearly 2,000 times and has more than 11,000 reactions on Facebook.

“Now, Detective Liu’s legacy can live on through his daughter,” the NYPD wrote on its Facebook page.

wenjian liu photo
Getty Images | Spencer Platt

We join them in wishing the Chen and Liu family much happiness and joy.

So far in 2017, 70 police officers have died in the line of duty, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The majority of those deaths have occurred in New York, which has seen eight officers killed.

Officer Goes Above And Beyond

Another heartwarming law enforcement story made headlines this week.

Oklahoma cop Jody Thompson wasn’t even on duty when he responded to a police call that would end up changing his life forever.

In April 2015, Thompson was returning home from a law enforcement training session when a call about child domestic abuse came in.

Although he was not on the clock, Thompson felt compelled to respond, telling People, “I had a gut feeling that this was my call to take.”

What Thompson found at the scene was shocking. A boy, John, 8, was found shivering and bruised. He had escaped from a trash can filled with cold water, where he’d been tied up by his parents as a punishment. John was admitted to intensive care in the hospital for two days.

Over those next two days, Thompson found himself thinking about the boy constantly.

“When I went home to my family, I couldn’t stop worrying about him,” Thompson told People. “And for two days, I couldn’t sleep or eat. On the morning of the third day, I woke up and thought, ‘I want John to live with me'”

Thompson’s family was completely on board with the idea.

Along with his wife, Jeannie, Thompson adopted both John and his then-unborn sister, Paizley, now 1. John and Paizley were welcomed into the family, which also includes the Thompsons’ biological children, Ryan, 16 , Charley, 10 and Zaven, 1.

John is grateful for his new family and hopes that his story will inspire others to do the same.

“If a kid needs a home today and somebody hears our story and gives that kid a home tomorrow, well, that’s pretty cool,” he told People.

For his part, Thompson is extremely happy with his new family.

“Never in my life did I dream of having a large family, but God had different plans and so here we are. And I’m loving it all,” the officer told CBS News.

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