9 months ago
22
(NewsNation) — A erstwhile New York City constabulary detective who worked astatine Ground Zero aft the 9/11 attacks is present warring crab and struggling to beryllium her work astatine the tract to unafraid her pension benefits.
Detective Sarah Salerno, speaking exclusively to NewsNation, revealed she is battling triple-negative bosom crab that has affected her lymph nodes.
Salerno says she's been denied her constabulary Disability Retirement Pension by the NYPD pension money Board of Trustees, which claims determination isn't capable grounds of her work during the captious days pursuing 9/11.
"I've been doing this for what, 14 years, proving my existence," Salerno said, describing her efforts to validate her beingness astatine Ground Zero. She has submitted photographs she took astatine the site, on with corroborating accounts from colleagues and supervisors.
Salerno was primitively recovered to person vocal cord problems linked to World Trade Center exposure, which qualified her arsenic disabled.
She has filed aggregate ineligible challenges, with courts consistently ruling she hasn't met the load of impervious for the statutory minimum beingness astatine the site.
Salerno is not unsocial successful her struggle. Another officer, Kim DiMartini, told NewsNation she's been denied benefits contempt submitting photos, negatives, and adjacent a helmet signed by erstwhile President Bill Clinton arsenic impervious of her service.
DiMartini was recovered disabled by the NYPD Pension Fund with PTSD. Her grounds besides includes overtime slips, witnesser affidavits, and a WTC vulnerability report.
Despite this documentation, DiMartini's exertion was denied. Her entreaty to the Appellate Division is presently scheduled for the court's November term.
"What is it going to instrumentality for them to aftermath up and spot that we were determination and the impervious is there?" Salerno questioned.
The NYPD's evident nonaccomplishment of rotation telephone records from that play has analyzable efforts by officers to beryllium their presence. "The documents that amusement wherever radical were person disappeared," Salerno explained.
The officers' lawyer told NewsNation that they "have aggregate clients who person been approved for World Trade Center (9/11) disablement pensions, but who cannot person their benefits due to the fact that the NYPD refuses to judge their impervious of information successful 9/11 Rescue and Recovery efforts astatine Ground Zero."
The denial of benefits has important fiscal implications for Salerno, who has had to owe her location doubly to screen expenses. "Cancer is precise expensive," she said.
Salerno expressed vexation and sadness implicit the situation, peculiarly concerning the aboriginal of her 2 children. "I don't privation to permission them with my burdens," she said.
Despite her struggles, Salerno maintains her committedness to service. "There are truthful galore cops that would conscionable driblet everything and bash it each implicit again. And I would bash it successful a heartbeat," she said.
NewsNation reached retired to the NYPD and the caput of the aesculapian part for the NYPD constabulary pension money Board of Trustees for remark but had not received a effect astatine the clip of reporting.
