(DailyAnswer.com) – Joseph Zadroga, 76, a leading figure fighting for justice for first responders after 9/11, has died in a freak accident. Zadroga had just been to see his wife at the Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation when, according to the Galloway Township Police Department, he was struck by someone attempting to park. James McNeal, 82, of Absecon was trying to park his Nissan SUV when it accelerated and struck Zadroga’s Hyundai Tucson before Zadroga was struck and pinned underneath the Nissan vehicle, resulting in his death. Police are investigating the crash that involved the 82-year-old, but have not announced any immediate charges.
Zadroga worked at the North Arlington Police Department for nearly three decades before retiring as chief in 1997. Zadroga’s son, James Zadroga, followed in his footsteps and worked as an NYPD detective. James spent more than 500 hours digging through the wreckage on 9/11 as a first responder. After his wife passed away from illness the previous year, James died in January 2006 while looking after his daughter and struggling with his declining health.
Joseph campaigned for first responders, and five months after he and his wife Linda filed James’ autopsy report to the medical examiner in an attempt to get his name added to the list of 9/11 victims, the medical examiner ruled in 2007 that he had in fact died of drug misuse. The presence of Talc and cellulose was used as evidence that he had inhaled them from ground-up pills, but the city’s former medical examiner, Dr. Michael Baden, dismissed the claim, saying there was no evidence of drug addiction and that such substances could have entered his lungs from 9/11 furniture.
Joseph Zadroga has been hailed as a hero by the 9/11 community who will be missed, described as a good man who “touched many lives”. He has been credited with being instrumental in the passing of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, which provides health monitoring and financial aid to first responders.
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