A former NYPD who commanded officers at Ground Zero on 9/11 has taken his own life after a long battle with lung disease.
Captain Douglas Greenwood, 61, shot himself at the entrance to Greenlawn Park near his home in Suffolk County, Long Island.
After leaving the NYPD on 9/11 disability 14 years ago, following 26 years of service, he became the owner of the highly regarded Greenwich Village Bleecker Street Pizza restaurant.
Douglas Greenwood took his own life at the age of 61 following a long and painful battle with lung disease
Captain Greenwood worked for 40 straight says at Ground Zero, putting his health at risk
Greenwood was a captain on the Manhattan South Task Force and led officers for 40 straight days at the site but because he was constantly on the radio was unable to keep his protective mask on.
He slept in an oxygen tank for the last 10 years and continued to struggle despite surgery
Greenwood’s friend of 25 years and former detective Ralph Friedman told the New York Post: ‘It was constant, increasing pain. It hurt to breathe.
‘He would never do something like this unless he had no choice. And he had no choice.’
Friedman explained his friend ‘he was in charge of all the NYPD boots on the ground.
‘He’d be commanding the scene, but he also did grunt work – everybody pitched in. Everyone was sifting through the scene for bodies, body parts.
After leaving the force, he became the owner of the highly-regarded Bleecker Street Pizza
‘He could have stayed in a car. But he was right there. And it cost him his health — as it did for a lot of officers. They did very heroic work — there’s no way around it. And he was right there.’
His long-time friend, photographer Kevin McCormick, said: ‘He talked about shooting himself as an inevitable thing.
‘He said when there’s no more quality of life, I’m going to do it He knew it was coming.’
After retiring he threw himself into his new career, saying he wanted to make pizzas ‘as true to my Italian grandmother’s recipe as possible’.
Friends recalled Greenwood was hugely proud of his pizzeria and would sometimes eat in the dining area, pretending to be a customer so he could overhear what people said about the food.