A group of Malverne firefighters is battling to have the name of one of its fallen co-workers added to a state memorial.
Six years ago, firefighter Paul Brady was performing maintenance on top of a truck when a co-worker accidentally drove the truck out of the station, killing Brady.
The fallen firefighter's colleagues have spent the past five years trying to get his name on the state's Fallen Firefighters Memorial Wall. According to a spokesperson for the state's selection committee, Brady didn't meet the criteria to be on the wall, which is reserved for firefighters who died in the line of duty.
State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) says the committee of mostly professional firefighters is discriminating against volunteers. However, the selection committee has denied this allegation.
Weisenberg authored a bill that, if signed into law, would have state agencies rather than committees decide if a firefighter's name should be on the wall.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D-N.Y.) office would not comment on whether he plans to sign the bill into law.