NYPD Sisters Remember Officer Father Killed in 9/11 Attacks
John Coughlin, a member of the NYPD’s elite Emergency Service Unit, Truck 4, in the Bronx, ran into the blazing South Tower to lead rappelling rescues with a rope and harness. The collapse of the tower killed him at age 43.

Erin Coughlin is an NYPD officer, her sister Kayla is an NYPD employee. Their father was an NYPD officer killed on 9/11. (Photo: NYPD/Facebook)
NYPD Sgt. John G. Coughlin, who died while trying to rescue people in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, left behind a family legacy.
Daughter Erin Coughlin, who was 16 on 9/11, joined the NYPD in 2012, and wears her dad’s badge No. 2275.
Kid sister Kayla, only 6 when their dad died, is now an NYPD video producer. She led the creation of a documentary on illnesses that cops suffered after working at Ground Zero.
Erin married a Police Academy classmate, David Harris, a K-9 officer. His German and Dutch Shepherd partner, “Coughlin” — named for their family’s 9/11 hero — lives with the couple.
Erin is the first female NYPD member to become a police officer after a parent’s death in the line of duty. “Following his path was always on the back of my mind,” she said.
John Coughlin, a 6-foot-2 member of the NYPD’s elite Emergency Service Unit, Truck 4, in the Bronx, ran into the blazing South Tower to lead rappelling rescues with a rope and harness. The collapse of the tower killed him at age 43, WMLeader reports.
The Coughlin sisters share a close bond with four others who joined the NYPD after their dads made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11:
* Sgt. Barry Driscoll, the son of officer Stephen Driscoll — John Coughlin’s ESU search-and-rescue partner who was killed at the WTC at age 38. Barry attended Boston University to study international relations, but switched gears after 9/11.
* Officer Jillian Suarez, who was 9 when her father, NYPD transit officer Ramon Suarez, 45, was killed on 9/11. Her father saved an asthmatic woman and then a seven-months-pregnant woman from the North Tower before dying in the collapse. He was posthumously awarded the NYPD’s Medal of Honor for his heroism.
* Joseph Vigiano Jr. and his brothers James and John were 8 years, 6 years, and 3 months old, respectively, when their father, NYPD detective Joseph Vigiano Sr., died on 9/11. Their grandfather, the late FDNY Capt. John Vigiano, helped Joseph’s widow Kathy, now a retired officer, raise the boys, but so did officers who had worked with their father and mother. “The NYPD became a second family to us,” Joseph said.
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