City Will Honor Eight Cops Who Died After Ground Zero Work

By MIA GOLDBERG

Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly will preside over a ceremony May 7 honoring eight officers who became sick after spending hundreds of hours inhaling toxic air while working at Ground Zero after 9/11. Their names will be added to the "Wall of Heroes" - a memorial for officers who died in the line of duty, according to a police spokesperson.

JOSEPH ZADROGA: Recognition a key step.

Long Overdue

For many of the families this is a long-overdue acknowledgment by the City that "line-of-duty" status should be extended to officers whose deaths were directly related their exposure to toxic air at Ground Zero, even though they occurred years after the work was completed. That status allows the families to collect disability pensions equal to 75 percent of the officers' final salaries.

Police Officers James Godbe, Thomas Brophy, Ronald Weintraub and Angelo Peluso and Detectives James Zadroga, John Young, Kevin Hawkins and Robert Williamson will have their added to the memorial.

Detective Zadroga, who spent more than 450 hours at Ground Zero, died in 2006 of respiratory disease. His death was the first to "officially" be deemed linked to his post-9/11 work by a New Jersey Medical Examiner. The claim was disputed by the city's Medical Examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, with whom the Mayor sided. The Mayor later had a private meeting with an outraged Joseph Zadroga, the officer's father, and made a public apology to the Zadroga family for saying he had not been a hero.

'Honor His Sacrifice'

"I committed to the family we would find a dignified way to honor his son's sacrifice," said the Mayor.

Michael Barasch, the attorney who represents two of the eight families, including Mr. Zadroga's, said he appreciates the gesture and credited the Mayor for living up to his promise. "It has no impact on pending lawsuits," he said. "It's just the civil thing to do."

The Police Pension Board ultimately awarded all eight of the honorees the disability benefits, but thousands who worked at the WTC site are still involved with lawsuits against the city.

Mr. Zadroga said, "We've never sued anyone; it was never about the money. It's strictly the principle of recognizing them as true heroes."

Maureen Williamson's husband died of pancreatic cancer May 15, 2007. She looks forward to attending the ceremony with her three children, ages 11, 13 and 16, and although the timing makes it particularly emotional, she is relieved that the city is "no longer denying it."

Also being honored are two Auxiliary Police Officers Eugene Marshalik and Nicholas Pekearo, who were killed trying to apprehend a gunman in Greenwich Village in March 2007.