9 Years After Tragedy, UWS Classmates Hold Final Cooper's Troopers Day

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Calhoun School's senior class will complete two ceremonies before bidding farewell to their Upper West Side prep school this spring. One is graduation, the other an annual day of remembrance for a fallen friend.

Classmates gathered on the corner of West 97th Street and West End Avenue Thursday — as they have done every year since 2014 — to honor the memory of Cooper Stock, a former student fatally struck by a taxi when he was just 9 years old.

Cooper's Troopers Day is hosted by his mother Dana Lerner, who says the ceremony brings a bittersweet kind of happiness every single year.

"I am endlessly fortunate that Cooper’s friends are keeping him alive in their hearts – they will never forget him," said Lerner.

"Yet watching your child’s friends grow up when your child is dead is an agony that has brought me to my knees."

Lerner continues to host the event as both a way to honor her son and warn other children about the dangers they face in city streets.

And her advocacy has made an indelible impact on the city Cooper once called home.

The year of his death, New York City passed Cooper's Law, which mandates Taxi and Limousine Commission drivers see their licenses suspended or revoked after critical or fatal crashes.

The Vision Zero bill came in response to news that the taxi driver — who told police he never saw Cooper in the crosswalk — paid a $500 fine, had his driver's license suspended for six months and served no jail time.

And, in 2015, the corner of West 97th Street and West End Avenue was officially co-named Cooper Stock Way.

Thursday marked the last time Cooper's Troopers gathering on Cooper Stock Way would include his friends and classmates, Lerner noted.

But she's confident the event will continue, and that Cooper's friends will never forget him.

"I'm certain that they will go on to fight for safer, better streets throughout their adult lives, Lerner said.

"Cooper's Troopers Day is such an incredible program and it would be wonderful if more people knew about it, especially children across New York City."