Works of art created in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack were on display at NYPD headquarters in Manhattan Monday – before being moved to a new home at the police academy in Queens.
Widow Carmen Suarez, 56, said she was stunned by how realistic the artwork of her husband, Ramon Suarez, appeared.
“I was just like overwhelmed because he looks exactly like him,” she said at a luncheon.
“It just touched my heart to see how they did the painting so amazing from his chin to every part of his body,” said her daughter Jillian, 23, who’s planning to become a police officer wearing her father’s shield number. “It was just so amazing.”
The eight pieces of art hanging in One Police Plaza were previously on display at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., to help garner support for the Zadroga Act.
The paintings, done by artists with the Society of Illustrators, are going to be permanently mounted in the new police academy in Queens.
Police Commissioner William Bratton thanked the families and artists for their help extending the act that helps pay for the treatment of sick 9/11 cops.
“This is one of the many efforts that helped get that bill over the goal line,” Bratton said.
Anthony Bonano, 50, said the event at police headquarters marked the first time he saw the painting of his brother Deputy Chief Steve Bonano, who died a year ago of a blood and skin cancer linked to his time looking for survivors at the World Trade Center site.
“This is the first time I’m actually seeing it,” he said. “That’s why it’s actually more moving for me.”
He said his brother fought the cancer for two years but never gave up hope that he’d once again be on the job.
“He was hospitalized and had to be intubated a week before he passed,” he said. “Even that week he was talking about coming back to the police force. He never really felt like he was dying.”