NYPD Recruit Inspired by Police Sergeant Who Saved Sister's Life

An NYPD recruit graduating Police Academy On Thursday, he knew he wanted to be a police officer at the age of nine — ever since he witnessed an officer save his sister’s life and later become a guardian angel to his entire family.

On March 12, 1998, Xavier Duran crossed 36th Ave. in Corona, Queens over with his mother, Ana, brother, Luiny and sister, Jeannette, then a van with Mistic Iced Tea plowed into themcrushing his sister’s leg.

A second later, NYPD Sgt. Lino Minetto and his partner, Police Officer Lisa Cordero, arrived on 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 and kept the child awake by asking her how old she was and what her favorite color was, while his partner raced them to Elmhurst Hospital Center to save the child’s life.

“I wanted to do what he did for my family,” Duran said of Minetto, who Jeannette affectionately calls “Uncle.”

“I wanted to do that to another family – to make a change, to make a difference,” the 35-year-old rookie reflected on the heroic rescue of the now-retired sergeant.

Minetto, who left the department in 2006, will join Duran’s family Thursday at Madison Square Garden when Xavier graduates with 588 of his fellow recruits.

Thursday graduating class will include 454 men and 154 women. 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 police parlance — about why he wanted to become a cop. He didn’t have to think long, he said.

“He basically saved us,” Duran said. “I said, I had to do the same thing for someone else, and I’m going to do it.”

Minetto and Cordero were just three blocks away when the call came in about the 8:30 a.m. accident.

“I saw the seriousness of the situation,” Minetto said, “and decided to pick her up, throw her in the plastic blanket we had and take her to the hospital because she was bleeding profusely.”

Doctors at Elmhurst Hospital ultimately had to amputate Jeannette’s leg, but the little girl lived and thrived despite all the odds, Minetto said.

“My report would say (she) was probably going to die,” Minetto recalled. “We expected that. But (then) I saw more than a dozen family members in the next room, all on their hands and knees, all praying. Between the doctors and the power of prayer and the incredible strength of this young lady, that’s what saved her. I got her there just fast enough for that to happen.

Investigators later determined that the crash was caused by strong sunlight temporarily blinds the driver as he made a U-turn at the intersection. The driver, who remained at the scene and called 911, was issued several citations but was never criminally charged.

When 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 rescue, he used it to raise money for Jeannette’s medical care and education.

“Minetto is a hero, but not the kind to be easily pleased,” the Daily News wrote at the time. ‘He doesn’t want praise so much as imitation. He has called on New Yorkers to open their wallets and match the money he has donated.”

The modest Minetto remembers how good it felt to see complete strangers walk into the 105th Precinct station in Queens and “give us $50, or whatever they could, to the fund.”

“I just did what anyone would do and what anyone should do,” he said of his fundraising.

Over the years, Minetto showed up at the Duran house and watched as Jeannette, who received a prosthetic leg, continued to grow. She never let her disability hold her back as she swam, rollerbladed and cycled around the neighborhood.

“One time I stopped by to say hello and she was on roller skates,” Minetto recalled. “The next time I saw her, she was in a tree.”

Minetto, whose own daughter was about Jeannette’s age at the time of the accident, felt an immediate bond with the child he cradled in his arms during that breakneck race to the hospital.

“There was a confrontation with my daughter and (Jeannette) at the accident,” he recalled. “I felt like I was looking at my daughter for a moment.”

Jeannette, now 32, remembers Minetto trying to keep her awake in the back of the police car and being present during her recovery. Minetto attended her elementary 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 even more nervous meeting him because I wanted his approval,” Payamps said. “Thanks to him she is here.”

Jeannette credits Minetto for saving her. Meanwhile, her close-knit family, as she put it, “helped make me feel like nothing has changed.”

“My life has been normal. They made it as normal as possible,” she said of her parents and siblings. “They made me feel like there were no boundaries. My mother always insisted that no one told me 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 by 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 when we were very young and he said he wanted to be a police officer.’

Two weeks ago, Jeannette contacted Minetto and asked him to attend her brother’s graduation ceremony.

“He’s in his 30s, I said, ‘What kind of graduation?’” he recalls. “They said, ‘The Police Academy.’ I said, ‘What?’

“It was a good surprise,” he said, smiling.

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