http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/nyregion/08officer.htmlRetired Detective's Death Attributed to 9/11 Duty
By KAREEM FAHIM
Published: January 8, 2006
A detective who retired from the New York Police Department in 2004 because of illness related to Sept. 11 died last week, a union official said yesterday.
The detective, James Zadroga, 34, who ended his career with an elite Manhattan homicide unit, died of pulmonary disease on Thursday at his parents' home in New Jersey, said Michael J. Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association.
Other detectives have retired from the department because of disabilities resulting from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but Mr. Zadroga is the first emergency responder to die of a related illness, Mr. Palladino said. The Police Department could not immediately provide the number of officers who have retired because of 9/11-related injuries.
"He was in Building 7 when it collapsed, and he narrowly escaped death," Mr. Palladino said. "For the next month, he worked 12 or 13 hours a day, a total of more than 450 hours, in the rescue and recovery effort."
Soon afterward, Detective Zadroga complained of shortness of breath and was found to have fiberglass in his lungs, Mr. Palladino said.
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I gather most of you recall how the WH deliberately changed the EPA's statement about Ground Zero a week after the towers were brought down. The EPA had no findings and the WH had the EPA say that the air at Ground Zero was safe for people to go back to work and live. To me the death of this brave police officer was a case of negligent homicide. There are thousands of people that have been affected in the same way, and it is a matter of time before they succumb too.