9/11 rescuer dies of lung ailment
New York A retired, 34-year-old New York City police detective who spent hundreds of hours searching for Sept. 11 victims at ground zero has died of a respiratory disease related to the cleanup, union officials said.
James Zadroga is believed to 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.
“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, N.J., officials said. Results of an autopsy were pending.
Zadroga had developed black lung disease and mercury on the brain as a result of working at ground zero, Palladino said. Palladino said Zadroga had worked up to 16 hours a day in rescue and recovery efforts the first month after the Sept. 11, 2001, collapse of the trade center towers.
He developed shortness of breath and other respiratory problems in the months after the attacks and retired on disability in 2004.
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, had a 4-year-old daughter. His wife died of cancer in late 2004, Palladino said.
Instructor, student die in skydiving accident
Honolulu A skydiving instructor and a student from Japan died when their tandem parachute missed Oahu’s Dillingham Airfield and landed in rough surf 300 yards from shore, authorities said.
Skydive Hawaii instructor Erich Mueller, 69, was declared dead shortly after arriving at a hospital emergency room Friday, and student Saori Takahashi, 33, of Hokkaido, Japan, died later that night.
The water the two landed in is only waist deep, said Bodo Van Der Leeden, captain of the city’s North Shore lifeguards. “But the conditions out there were really, really rough, very treacherous, with the waves breaking over the reef.”
Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said both victims were tangled up in the parachute. Rescue workers estimated they had been under water 15 to 30 minutes before they were freed.
Middle school teacher sentenced in sex case
Santa Ana, Calif. A former English teacher was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two of her middle school students and one of their friends.
29-year-old Sarah Bench-Salorio wept and apologized during the hearing before Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey on Friday.
“I take responsibility,” she said. “This will remain in my conscience forever.”
Parents of the abused boys, who ranged in age from 11 to 13, also spoke at the hearing, calling the defendant a “pedophile and sexual predator.”
Prosecutors said Bench-Salorio, who taught at Santiago Charter Middle School, had sexual contact with the boys at numerous locations between 2003 and 2004. She was arrested after one of the boys told his parents about the abuse.
She pleaded guilty in September to 29 counts of improper sexual contact with the boys. She could have faced up to 64 years in prison if the case had gone to trial, said Allan Stokke, her attorney.