Author: PoliceOne Members
By PoliceOne Staff
NEW YORK — A Department of Homeland Security special agent died Oct. 27 from cancer he developed due to exposure to toxic substances he encountered while responding to the Sept. 11 attacks.
ODMP reported Special Agent Dennis P. McCarthy, 65, helped secure the U.S. Custom House at the World Trade Center after it was destroyed on 9/11 and stayed to assist with recovery efforts.
McCarthy was a 31-year law enforcement veteran, serving with Homeland Security as well as the former U.S. Customs Service.
Seventy-two officers from eight local, state and federal agencies were killed on Sept. 11, 2001 when al Qaeda terrorists crashed four hijacked planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Heavy air contamination resulting from the attacks at Ground Zero has led to the illness and deaths of many first responders in the years following the incident.
