NYC Mayor Takes Heat Over 'Hero' Remark

NEW YORK — City police unions and the family of a dead police detective who worked on Sept. 11 cleanup called Tuesday for Mayor Michael Bloomberg to apologize for saying the officer is "not a hero" because his death was ruled unrelated to the toxic debris.

Speaking Monday to students at Harvard University, Bloomberg was asked about the idea of applying hard science to public policy. In his answer, he brought up Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch's recent conclusion that retired police detective James Zadroga's fatal lung disease was caused not by dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center but by self-administered injections of ground-up pills.

"Nobody wanted to hear that; we wanted to have a hero, and there are plenty of heroes," Bloomberg said. "It's just, in this case, science says this was not a hero."

Zadroga's family disputes Hirsch's findings about drug use; a New Jersey medical examiner ruled separately last year that Zadroga died from inhaling the toxic dust. Zadroga put in more than 400 hours at ground zero, and his death at age 34 made him a symbol of ailing Sept. 11 workers around the country.

The family sought Hirsch's opinion as part of the city's required process to include additional names on the official list of Sept. 11 victims and a memorial wall to be built at ground zero.

"The mayor is a political person; he's acting on a political agenda. To me, he's heartless; he has no compassion whatsoever for people and their lives and their families," the detective's father, Joseph Zadroga, said Tuesday.

Detectives' Endowment Association President Michael Palladino said that the police force had lost faith in the mayor and City Hall, and that Bloomberg's comments stung the hundreds of rescue workers who say they have become sickened after working on the cleanup.

"Hirsch's findings and the mayor's comments are an insult to the families of those first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice, like Jimmy Zadroga, and all those other first responders that are still suffering with the illness of 9/11," Palladino said.

At a news conference Tuesday, Bloomberg praised the detective for his "impressive record" and said he didn't mean to upset anyone. He declined to say whether he regrets the remark about Zadroga not being a hero.

Joseph Zadroga said he would like to meet with the mayor to explain the family's view of the detective's death. The mayor's spokesman, Stu Loeser, said Bloomberg would be happy to meet with Zadroga.

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