"This is something I can build up to, to stay in shape, and it's great to do this in John's memory for charity," McCann says. "The people I ride with are a great group."
This year, Team Pawlowski, led by John's widow, Kim, wear blue "J.P. Party" T-shirts embellished with a racing bike under a sun, and the team's members have raised $15,000 for police charities. On McCann's left wrist is a black band with the words: "P/O John Pawlowski #5649," the slain officer's badge number. McCann, along with Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho, prosecuted Pawlowski's killer, Rasheed Scrugs, now serving life in prison without parole.
It's McCann's third Tour de Shore, yet he still has stomach jitters. "I always get a little nervous," he says with a smile. "I'm not one of the fastest." He expects to finish in about 5 1/2 hours. His wife, Ellen, a law clerk, and at least one of his three teenage children will meet him near the finish line.
McCann, 49, a Drexel Hill native, started his career at the District Attorney's Office immediately after earning his law degree from Temple University. He can't imagine doing anything else.
Of the dozens of murders he's tried, nothing hits him in the gut more than victims of child abuse. The horrific 2006 starvation death of Danieal Kelly stays with him. She was the 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy whose emaciated and bedsore-ridden body was found in a two-bedroom West Philadelphia apartment she shared with her mother and eight siblings.
McCann keeps two large photos of Danieal in his office. "Prosecuting that case literally changed my life," he says.
— Barbara Laker
Contact Barbara Laker at 215-854-5933 or lakerb@phillynews.com.
