NY police memorial adds 15 new names

ALBANY — The names of 15 police officers, including 10 who died from illnesses related to ground zero, site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in Manhattan, have been added to the New York police memorial. At a ceremony on May 10, family, friends and hundreds of officers gathered at the black granite memorial in Albany where 1,297 names of officers who died in the line of duty are engraved. So far, 39 who died from illnesses related to exposure to the rubble of the World Trade Center towers, brought down by terrorists who hijacked jetliners, have their names on the wall. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who lives in lower Manhattan, says he breathed the toxic smoke, too, but the first responders came to rescue and search for people they didn’t even know.