Nobody's Hero

Radley Balko | November 2, 2007

NYPD Detective James Zadroga died recently of a lung ailment. Zadroga was a decorated officer who was a September 11 first responder, then toiled at Ground Zero for more than 400 hours in the weeks after the attacks. Autopsy findings initially indicated that Zadroga used illegal drugs, which may have contributed to his death (his family is disputing the findings).

Enter New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg, who had the following to say about Zadroga's death and possible drug use:

"We wanted to have a hero. There are plenty of heroes. It's just that in this case, the science says this was not a hero."

After some public backlash, Bloomberg's now walking back his words. But his initial reaction (particularly from an admitted pot smoker) is awfully telling.