February 16, 2006 -- The death of a decorated EMS lieutenant killed by a pulmonary embolism last year has finally been recognized as being in line of duty by the FDNY, The Post has learned. While working April 20, Lt. Brendan Pearson, a 24-year EMS veteran, sustained a hernia while lifting a defibrillator box.
Pearson, 49, assigned to Station 23 on Staten Island, underwent surgery at Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn and appeared to be recovering when he died three days later.
"I was walking with him and he collapsed," said his heartbroken wife, Laura.
"At first they [the FDNY] didn't want to recognize it as a line-of-duty death," she said.
But an FDNY spokesman said yesterday, "Additional review of this case determined his death to be the result of injuries sustained in the line of duty. As a result, his name will be posted up on the department's memorial wall."
