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For better or worse, talk of NYPD detective James Zadroga's death continues to linger. For the past two weeks, the family of Zadroga, who worked hours of rescue and recovery at the pit after the September 11 attacks, and the city's medical examiner's office have been disagreeing about Zadroga's cause of death. Now Mayor Bloomberg has stepped into the fray, discrediting Zadroga's hero status.
Two medical experts have supported the family's believe that Zadroga's death was directly due to the toxic World Trade Center dust he breathed in, whereas the NYC ME believes that Zadroga died because he abused prescription drugs (painkillers to ease his illness' effects). Mayor Bloomberg, accepting the Harvard School of Public Health's Julius B. Richmond Award for using the NYC Health Department to improve the health of New Yorkers, backed up chief medical examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch, saying, "Our chief medical examiner believes that the deceased was using some of his drugs in a manner for recreational drugs...Nobody wanted to hear that. We wanted to have a hero. There are plenty of heroes. It's just in this case, the science says this was not a hero." And we know how Bloomberg feels about science!
Zadroga's father Joseph asked the Daily News, "Why is he trying to malign my son and deny that Jimmy is a hero." And former NYPD detective and Zadroga friend Gerard Gansel told the Post, "It's sickening. The mayor never backs the Police Department... it's very disturbing." Zadroga's parents' lawyer said he wished "Mayor Bloomberg had taken the time to do a little research to see what prescription medication Mr. Zadroga had received."
Joseph Zadroga added, "For him [Bloomberg] to say that about my son is totally disgraceful. I would like to meet him ... and have him say that to Jimmy's 6-year-old daughter's face." Zadroga's daughter Tyler Ann is orphaned; her mother died during her father's illness and she is being raised by her grandparents.
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Yano, I watched 9-11 happen with my own two eyes and I don't even give a shit anymore, nor do I think about the people involved in the rescue and recovery operations.
In fact, the only reason it enters my head is when stories like this break.
And I'm a native.
Yeah, I said it.
Bloomberg is a grade A asshole - no matter what the official cause of death was, he along with everyone who worked at Ground Zero was a hero.
and PH, who gives two shits if you're a "native?"
We already know Bloomberg is a grade A asshole from all the lawsuits involving his companies. Though this is really going too far.
What we can take from this is that he is most definitely not running for President. You don't take a dump on someone who worked at Ground Zero just to back up your chief medical examiner (who btw, hasn't exactly been acting particularly professionally during this whole thing in the first place). That doesn't play well locally, not to mention nationally.
And Ph, it would seem to me that people outside of NY fetishize 9/11 much more than people in NY, so your being "native" doesn't seem too surprising.
I agree with PH. I, for one, am tired of this and would like to move on.
P.S. I walked through the ashes trying to get out of the city as they were still falling. Does that make me a hero?
MT - I don't know, do you feel like one?
I had to walk through the ashes to get home on 9/11 and,no, that does not make me a hero. But people like Zadroga who did work at the site as rescue and recovery should receive their due. Bloomberg's attack that he died because he abused painkillers is beside the point and only makes Bloomberg look like the jerk he truly is.
the word hero has lost its meaning. seems that everybody is a hero ... nothing special.
My gut says to go with the opinion of someone who is not employed by the city, like the ME in Jersey, since they don't really have a vested interest.
People from LI love 9/11
Shovel makes a really good point. Is this guy only a hero if he dies because of some ailment associated with working at Ground Zero? Bloomberg seems to think so. The more I read his quote the more I think he has a lot of explaining to do. I'm sure the Daily News Op-Ed guys will be on the case.
I like that it's supposed to be a surprise that Bloomberg - a successful politician and businessman - is an asshole.
Can you name me a successful politician or businessman who's NOT an asshole? It's basically required to succeed in those two fields.
Whether or not he's a "hero" isn't the point here. I don't think Bloomberg should speak ill of the dead. Especially publicly.
(sigh)
This is a perfect example of when the Mayor should have just kept his mouth shut.
Is there really any upside to bashing a Dead Cop??
Straight out of the uncaring politician/rush/o'reilly etc playbook.
next he'll be bashing dead babies and children.
I agree, that was a stupid and cruel comment by Bloomburg. No matter how Zadroga died, he is a hero because he risked his own life rescuing others from death on 9/11.
No more so than anyone else in New York, captainblackout.
People need to stop trying to make each other more than we are. It diminishes the real heros.
MT, tell us who the real heroes are? a cop who died because he risked his own life rescuing others from death on 9/11? or you who ran like a coward through the ashes trying to get out of the city as they were still falling? or is it PH who doesn't even think about the people involved in the rescue and recovery operations?
yeah, you two are real american heroes. i salute you.
i'd like there to be a temporary moratorium on the word 'hero.' say like ten years.
and what have you done, zodak?
there were thousands of people cops, firemen and civilians) who worked without masks down there and less than a handful have died since. If this was an epidemic, then yes I could understand the alarm, but thankfully it's not.
I think what Bloomberg is trying to say (and I'm sure the media has played a huge part in the distortion) is that these men and women are hero's but their families trying to milk the city for money are making the hero seem unheroic...
You're not a hero for the money, you're a hero because your human-heart tells you to save lives and help people.
Doesn't look like zodak is claiming to have done anything, just that a little respect might be due and that how the guy died has little to do with what selfless acts he performed in life.
That said, the word "hero" like many others in this media saturated world has been somewhat devalued. For instance, how many people out there take "responsibility" for something then go on like nothing happened, in no way atoning for it.
I'm for the moratorium.
edEx - He really needs to find a better way to articulate that point if that is indeed what he is saying. I think that the city is certainly trying to avoid being held financially responsible, that makes sense, but both the city's medical examiner and now Bloomberg are esssentially slandering this guy in public. Which doesn't do anybody any good.
Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I remember reading that the family was not seeking any kind of financial compensation from the city, which makes the Mayor's stance even stranger from a PR point of view.
Dr. Charles Hirsch has a reputation as an extremely professional man of unassailable integrity. I've met him, and he also strikes me as a kind man. I imagine the meeting with the Zadroga family was painful for him.
I agree with the point most people are making, however. If James Zadroga abused drugs ... wait a minute, if someone is dying I think terms like "abuse" are almost irrelevant, whatever you need to do to ease your passing. Anyway, it doesn't take away from his efforts at the site.
Chris26 - yeah, they "love" it. Check out the death count on Long Island from 9/11. Most cops and firefighters live(d) on LI as well as many who died at their office jobs. My parents live there now, right next door to a cop's widow and her young children who lost their Dad on 9/11.
Most of those living on LI have strong ties to the city and were here long before most of those now living in Manhattan.
Bloomberg just responded badly. While I do believe that the man acted heroically on Sept 11th, his death should not be catagorized as that of a hero. And frankly, I would think that in an emergency civil service type of job that things like toxic fumes etc...logically come with the package. That is why the insurance payouts are high for cops and firefighters, and why the salaries are also high. It comes with the turf, much like blacklung and mining go hand in hand. I mean this with no disrespect, but it is a fact of their profession.
It's a bit like having terminal cancer, and so you accidently end up ODing on morphine. So yeah the morphine killed you, but you wouldn't have taken it at all if it weren't for the cancer.
So Zadroga worked as city worker during 9/11, got incredibly sick from that, and then ODed on drugs meant to help his suffering.
I'd go with 9/11 "hero" on this one. If by hero we mean someone who tried to help people in the aftermath.
no financial restitution? i doubt that. why then is his family bringing this to the public? also, the media is pretty good at distorting statements by anyone...
regardless, perhaps an outside, non affiliated ME needs to do the autopsy...
Nothing quite like a story about a dead pig to warm one's heart. I'm going to visit this site every day just to remind myself that the world is rid of one more worthless piece of shit. No pig is ever a hero, they are only pigs, and the world is better off without that useless waste of human flesh walking around. If one good thing came out of 9/11, it's all the cops that died from it. But hey Al Qaeda, next time just cut out the middle man and start bombing police stations. Then there will be no loss of innocent life.