The number of police officers who lost their lives in the 9/11 attack due to fatal illnesses has now surpassed the number of officers killed in action at the site, according to the New York State Police Officers’ Memorial in Albany.
The memorial lists the engraved names of those police officers in NYS who were killed in the line of duty. 60 of those names below to cops killed on 9/11 and the names of 20 more deceased officers were recently added, including 12 NYPD officers and one Peekskill Police Department officer.
There are now a recorded total of 71 officers who died from Ground Zero-related illnesses, surpassing the 60 who died in the 9/11 attack. All of the 20 officers whose names were recently added to the memorial died of cancers.
NYPD officers, first responders and other survivors suffering from Ground Zero-related cancers can now get their medical care covered under the $4.3 billion Zadroga Act, which was signed into law in 2011. Coverage for cancer was included in 2012, after a lengthy debate over whether exposure to Ground Zero debris could cause those illnesses.
