42°
The memorial at Port Authority Police Benevolent Association headquarters off East Palisade Avenue in Englewood Cliffs originally was created to honor the 37 PAPD officers killed in the 9/11 terror attacks on America.
They included K9 Sirius, whose handler put him into what was believed to be a safe place at the World Trade Center before the buildings fell.
"At that time, we had what we believed to be eight prior PAPD line-of-deaths that were recognized and acknowledged in the PBA office with plaques and photos," union President Frank Conti said during a re-dedication ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 28.
"Since 2001, our department has lost sixteen additional members, both active and retired, due to patrol incidents and 9/11-related illnesses," Conti said.
The department also discovered two more previously unrecognized line-of-duty deaths, including its first ever, he said.
It was Aug. 21, 1946 when PAPD Sgt. John V. McCabe of Jersey City went into the Holland Tunnel to help unclog a traffic jam caused by a stalled vehicle.
He'd hopped a ride out on the side of a small privately-owned candy delivery truck when disaster struck. The truck blew its left front tire, throwing McCabe, 52, into a tunnel wall. The impact fractured his skull, broke his leg and ultimately killed him.
It was the first serious accident ever reported on the Jersey City side of the Holland Tunnel since it had been opened to vehicular traffic nearly 20 years earlier.
It's a tragic coincidence that the second PAPD line-of-duty death was somewhat similar.
PAPD Officer John J. Kane was directing traffic for a work crew replacing fire extinguishers on the walls of the Lincoln Tunnel when he was struck by a newspaper delivery truck on Oct. 26, 1950. The U.S. Army veteran, who'd been with the department for four years, was pronounced DOA at what was then nearby North Hudson Hospital in Weehawken. He was 31.
Relatives and other loved ones from the various surviving families joined PAPD Supt. Ed Cetnar, Chief Rich Bellucci and Deputy Chief Chris McNerney and other dignitaries at Thursday's unveiling of the images etched by alser onto the black granite memorial.
The youngest, each 25, were killed in the line of duty, both by criminals, a little over a year apart.
PAPD Officer Scott R. Parker was gunned down by a quartet of carjackers on Coney Island on Aug. 30, 1983. Parker -- who returned fire, wounding one of the suspects -- was taken off life support at Kings County Hospital five days later.
PAPD Officer Arthur M. Ansert Jr. -- a United States Navy veteran -- had been with the PAPD for only a year when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver while conducting a traffic stop at JFK Airport.
The most recent, Frederick G. Maley, died on July 17, 2022 from a 9/11-related illness, the department reported. Maley had been with the PAPD for 23 years. He was 67.
Two died in public transportation violence.
Officer William Perry was in plainclothes when he asked a man to put out a cigarette he was smoking on a PATH train three days before Christmas 1980.
The man refused and Perry tried to get him off the train at Journal Square. They were fighting when the man pulled a gun from his coat and shot the four-year department veteran, killing him. Perry was 32.
The gunman fled, stole a car, then was captured 10 days later in Atlanta, GA. Authorities later tied him to several other shootings. The man was sentenced to 44 years in state prison but was released in June 2003 after serving half that time.
Just two years earlier, Officer Henry J. Koebel was shot and killed at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 8th Avenue in Manhattan after he'd ejected a homeless man who was harassing people waiting on line to buy their tickets.
The man returned, they got into a struggle and the man seized Koebel's gun before shooting him three times, killing the 27-year-old officer.
He then ran through the terminal with the gun and was promptly shot and killed by other PAPD officers.
PAPD Officer Hitler McLeod was also 27 when he tried to help some men who'd been chased by three brothers into a Brooklyn café where he was eating on Nov. 3, 1961.
One of them pulled a gun and shot McLeod three times. He died soon after.
The dispute apparently was over three dollars, authorities said at the time.
McLeod had been with the department only two years.
The other names added to Port Authority Police Department memorial:
- Lt. John J. Brant
- Lt. Robert Jones
- Lt. William E. Doubraski
- Sgt. Vincent J. Oliva
- Sgt. Lawrence Guarnieri
- Detective Thomas M. Inman
- Officer Charles Kessler
- Officer James Calandra
- Officer Bertram Winkler
- Officer John Mark Cortazzo
- Officer Pavlos D. Pallas
- Officer Steven J. Tursellino
- Officer Charles Barzydlo
- Officer James W. Kennelly
- Officer Mark J. Meier
- Officer Michael E. Teel
- Officer William J. Leahy
- Officer Anthony Varvaro
Click here to follow Daily Voice Rutherford and receive free news updates.
