Retired NYPD detective Bo Dietl remembered Bernard Kerik as a “calming effect” amid the chaos of the Sept. 11 attacks, praising his leadership and legacy during an appearance on Newsmax following Kerik’s death.
Detective Dietl paid tribute Saturday to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, calling him a steadying presence in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Kerik died Thursday at age 69 after a sudden illness.
Appearing on “Saturday Agenda,” Dietl, a longtime friend and colleague of Kerik, recalled the harrowing days at Ground Zero, describing Kerik’s presence there as critical to maintaining calm amid devastation.
“You know, I can remember, like yesterday, and I go back, I go back with Bernie when he first came on the NYPD,” Dietl said. “When that day happened, I saw him down at Ground Zero.
We went down there, my partner, Mike Siravo, and I rushed down there. I was an original ironworker before I became a cop on the World Trade Center. So, I thought I could possibly help. And we stayed down there for a few days.”
Dietl described the scene and Kerik’s physical presence at the site of the attacks: “I remember meeting Bernie down there, and he was covered with soot from the cement that imploded there from the buildings and all that. And his face and the face of Rudy Giuliani were really a calming effect, along with President [George] Bush.”
He emphasized the magnitude of Kerik’s leadership during what he called “the biggest tragedy, I think, in my lifetime in this country.”
“Bernard Kerik, along with Rudy Giuliani … he had a remarkable career,” Dietl said. “This was a true American hero, Bernard Kerik. He went through the United States Army. He served in our military. He went on to the police department [and] he went through the ranks there.”
Kerik’s rise in law enforcement was closely tied to his alliance with Giuliani. “He met up with Rudy Giuliani, whom he supported tremendously,” Dietl said. “He became a real, true, good friend of Rudy Giuliani. Then, when Rudy was the mayor of New York City, he made him the corrections commissioner. Then Rudy’s honor and love for Bernard Kerik promoted him to the police commissioner of the New York City Police Department.”
Dietl said Kerik was “well-liked by the rank and file. Obviously, [because] he was rank and file.”
During one of the nation’s darkest hours, Kerik’s leadership remains a defining part of his legacy.
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