Three fallen New York City correction officers were added to the Department of Correction’s memorial stone on Rikers Island last Friday, nearly 25 years after they rushed to Ground Zero.
Capts. Jacqueline Payden, Raul Gonzalez and Thomas Weadock were honored in the annual ceremony for the 42 DOC members who have died from cancers and respiratory illnesses tied to their 9/11 rescue and recovery work. Their families received plaques and folded American flags recognizing their sacrifice.
Daisy Payden wept as she remembered her daughter, who had just turned 50 when she died. “I miss my daughter so much. She was my life. She was my partner in crime. She was everything to me. And she died so young, she just turned 50 years old. She had cancer — she didn’t even know she had cancer,” she said at the ceremony.
The grieving mother urged those gathered to support one another. “We have to stay strong, help out each other, stop being so mean and evil to each other. Just give everybody strength, give everybody love. Just be thankful that you are here.”
DOC Investigator Steven Kapczak, who died in 2013 at age 53 from a 9/11-linked respiratory illness, was also remembered by his sisters Annie Caputo and Kathy Penafiel. “He was dedicated to his job. He was out on those streets doing what he did best. He loved his family and his job just as much. We truly miss him,” Caputo shared.
She added, “We think of them all the time. We miss his smile and his laughter and everything that goes with it.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the dedication and praised the department’s immediate response to the terror attacks. “Many have fallen ill from the toxic air, air and they breathed in working day after day, week after week. And I know that no amount of time will make their loss hurt any little bit less,” he said.
The mayor described the department as one “where no one hesitates.”
Mamdani departed before the ceremony ended to attend a security briefing for the West Indian American Day Parade, a move that frustrated some attendees already angry about the DOC’s exclusion from broader 9/11 memorial services.
Ken Schwartz, who retired from DOC 23 years ago and has since developed prostate cancer and sinus issues from volunteering in the post-9/11 morgue, did not hold back. “I’m not surprised at the mayor’s attitude towards the department. He doesn’t care about law enforcement and definitely doesn’t care about corrections,” he fired back.
Schwartz continued, “You don’t care about law enforcement is one thing but corrections, as they say, is the bottom of the barrel and he couldn’t care less about corrections,” adding, “Even the 9/11 Memorial, we’re not even on the memorial.”
The ceremony followed two executive orders Mamdani signed earlier Friday. The first made September 11 the official Citywide Day of Remembrance and Service, requiring city agencies to observe moments of silence and encouraging volunteer participation. While the date is already federally recognized, it had lacked official city designation.
The second order established a Continuity and Mission Assurance Team, adding budget and administrative services leaders to the existing emergency preparedness group that has operated for decades.
A wreath was laid before the black stone shrine as part of the annual tradition honoring the hundreds of correction officers who aided in the rescue and recovery efforts on September 11, 2001. The department’s role in the aftermath has often gone unrecognized compared to police and fire responders, a sore point for veterans like Schwartz who noted their absence from the main 9/11 Memorial.
The West Indian American Day Parade security briefing awaits the mayor this weekend in Brooklyn.