Union: Cop Died From Ground Zero Air

(AP)  A retired, 34-year-old city police officer who spent hundreds of hours searching for Sept. 11 victims at ground zero has died of respiratory disease that union officials believe is related to the cleanup.

James Zadroga, who retired as a detective from Manhattan's South Homicide task force in 2004, would be the first emergency responder to die as a result of exposure to World Trade Center dust and debris, said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association.

"Although James is the first, unfortunately I do not think he is going to be the last," Palladino said Saturday.

Zadroga died Thursday at his home in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, officials said. Results of an autopsy conducted by the medical examiner's office in Ocean County, New Jersey, were pending.

But Zadroga had developed black lung disease and mercury on the brain as a result of working at ground zero, Palladino said. Zadroga spent 470 hours in the first month after the Sept. 11, 2001, collapse of the trade center in rescue and recovery efforts, working up to 16 hours a day at the site, Palladino said.

He developed shortness of breath and other respiratory problems in the months after the attacks, and retired on disability in 2004. Police officials didn't comment on what caused Zadroga's death.

A majority of residents and ground zero workers tracked by several different registries monitoring the participants' health have reported worsening respiratory problems in the years since the attacks.

Zadroga, a 13-year veteran of the force, is survived by a 4-year-old daughter, his parents and a brother. His wife died of cancer in late 2004, Palladino said.