Mayor Adams, NYPD Interim Commissioner Tom Donlon and other top officials gathered near Ground Zero Tuesday to honor dozens of police officers, many of whom died of 9/11-related illnesses, as their names were added to the Police Memorial Wall in Battery Park City.
Adams praised the actions of the 42 NYPD officers, most who succumbed in recent years to illnesses related to the attacks and two dying due to complications after being shot.
The city, Adams said, will never forget their heroism.
“And although we lost them physically, spiritually still hover over this city, hover over the men and women of the law enforcement community in this city and across this entire nation,” Adams said.
“We pray for their families… Every birthday, every holiday, every time you hear a name that’s similar, every time you see a police vehicle, you relive the pain and agony. But we want you to know the family still remembers them.”
Many of the officers remembered Tuesday join a growing list of emergency responders who have contracted severe illnesses and died due to their time on the ground during and in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York at the World Trade Center.
This year, the number of FDNY members who died of a 9/11 illness surpassed the number of those who died during the attack. In the past year, over two dozen firefighters have died from illnesses linked to 9/11.
Two of the officers honored Tuesday died years after being shot: NYPD detectives Lawrence Bromm, who died in 2022 from complications of his gunshot wounds from a 1977 incident that left him paralyzed, and Troy Patterson, who died after decades in a slightly-responsive state from being shot in an attempted robbery in 1990.
“I think about Officer Bromm and Officer Patterson, whose injuries lasted for many years, and how it impacted their families as they had to endure the pain that was associated with that attack,” Adams said.
“We promise to honor their service, to remember their sacrifice and to always be there for their families,” Donlon said at the memorial. “And while we can never repay the debt we owe them, we can and always will keep that promise.”