A hero cop injured at the Twin Towers on 9/11 died from World Trade Center-related cancer, a state appeals court ruled yesterday.
The Appellate Division ruling means Frank Macri’s widow is entitled to accidental-line-of-duty death benefits — and, in fact, he will be listed as having died in the line of duty, said the family’s lawyers, Michael Murray and Christopher McGrath.
“I’m at a loss for words,” his widow, Nilda Macri, told The Post. “Frank really deserves this honor. This would’ve meant a lot to him, to know he’s still remembered . . . He was a special, special guy.”
Macri was at the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001, and was injured when debris from one of the falling towers knocked him to the ground and cut up an arm, leg and both corneas. He also “inhaled significant quantities of dust and smoke caused by the collapsing building,” the ruling said.
None of that stopped Macri from joining the rescue, recovery and cleanup operations after the attacks. “He worked at Ground Zero until October 1, 2001, and at Fresh Kills landfill from November 1, 2001, to early January 2002,” logging 350 hours at the sites, the ruling says.
In 2002, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Within 18 months, the disease had metastasized to his brain, liver and bones. He died on Sept. 2, 2007, at age 52.
His widow later applied for WTC accidental-line-of-duty combat-death benefits, which essentially pay three-quarters of the officer’s salary tax-free, but the police pension medical board turned her down, finding that the cancer had spread so quickly that he must have had it before 9/11.
dareh.gregorian@nypost.com