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Cheektowaga Police will still run in honor of 9/11 first responder

Cheektowaga SWAT will be running to honor the first responder and raise money for programs that help injured veterans and fallen first responders' families.
Credit: WGRZ

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — The pandemic has stopped many events from happening, but it's not stopping a group of local police officers from running in honor of a 9/11 first responder. 

Stephen Siller was a firefighter in Brooklyn who had just finished his shift when the Twin Towers were struck. He immediately drove to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which had already been closed. 

Siller then ran from his truck, through the tunnel, to the World Trade Center, where he would ultimately lose his life while working to save others.

Locally, the Cheektowaga Police run in a 5K in September for the Stephen Siller Tunnels to Towers Foundation. The foundation raises money to build homes or pay off mortgages for injured veterans and fallen first responders' families.

The event's cancellation isn't stopping the Cheektowaga SWAT team from running in his memory and raising some money in the process. 

Cheektowaga's SWAT team plans to run from the police station, to a 9/11 memorial six miles away, then back to the station. Their hope is to raise the same amount of money, albeit online. 

For more information or to donate, click here.  

At the time of this article's posting, the department has already raised $1,245 in three days. Their goal is $15,000.

  

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