ערשטער קרבן פון 9/11 קליען אפ
א פאליסמאן וואס איז געשטארבן פאריגע וואך, זיין פאמיליע באשולדיגט אז ער איז געשטארבן פון די פעסטס וואס איז געווען ביים אויפקלינען די טווין טאוערס.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/380761p-323303c.html
A cop dies & kin
blame 9/11 debris
By ROBERT F. MOORE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
Retired NYPD detective James Zadroga - who leaves behind a young daughter, Tylerann - wrote a letter about his work at Ground Zero.
A retired NYPD detective, who worked more than 450 hours at Ground Zero, died Thursday from brain and respiratory complications that his family insists were linked to the World Trade Center cleanup.
While autopsy results are pending, union officials maintain James Zadroga's death is the first post-9/11 death of a city officer linked to hazardous material from Ground Zero.
"Our detective is a hero," said Mike Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association. "He had a disregard for his own health and life and tried to save others."
In a chilling letter Zadroga wrote about a year after the terror attacks, he described his deteriorating health - including a constant cough and sore throat.
"No one cares at the job," he wrote. "They tell me I'm fine, go back to work. But, truthfully, I haven't felt this bad in my life.... And what thanks do I get now that I'm sick?"
NYPD officials said Zadroga, 34, was given a tax-free disability pension of three-quarters pay in 2004. His pension was the result of a pulmonary disease related to 9/11, a police official said.
After leaving the NYPD, Zadroga was responsible for his own medical bills.
"The department afforded the detective every medical option available," said NYPD Chief Michael Collins, a department spokesman.
Still, Zadroga's parents said he left behind $50,000 in medical bills. They also said neither the city nor the NYPD has ever acknowledged to them that their son's illness was tied to Ground Zero.
"They didn't treat him well," said his father, Joseph Zadroga, a retired police chief in North Arlington, N.J.
James Zadroga is survived by his 4-year-old daughter, Tylerann, who was her daddy's little nurse. She told him when his head felt warm and knew from his dependence on oxygen when he wasn't doing well, relatives said.
"I thought Daddy was only sleeping," she told her grandmother, Linda Zadroga, after her father's death.
Zadroga died at his parents' home in Little Egg Harbor, N.J. A funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in North Arlington. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has authorized an NYPD honor guard to attend the service.
Zadroga was inside 7 World Trade Center as it began to collapse on 9/11. He returned to the site for weeks to help search for victims' remains.
Palladino said he feared the deaths of more emergency workers could follow.
"We're just starting to learn now the long-term effects on first responders," he said.
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