The late School Safety Agent Vivian Samuels-Benjamin joined the ranks of the city’s finest, May 11, when she was honored by the NYPD in a Memorial Day Ceremony for police officers who die in the line of duty. Samuels’ name was etched into the NYPD’s Memorial Wall at One Police Plaza, along with those of NYPD Detectives Dillon Stewart and Daniel Enchautegui, who died in 2005.

SSA Samuels-Benjamin, who suffered a heart attack December 16, 2005 while escorting an unruly student from a school dance, was also honored earlier in the week by The New York State Fraternal Order of Police Empire State Lodge at a statewide memorial ceremony on May 6 at 911 Police Plaza in Hicksville, Long Island. At that special event, the state Police organization commemorated Samuels and the four other law enforcement officers who died in 2005 in the line of duty: Senior Investigator Thomas M. O’Neill of the NY State Police; Deputy Sheriff Eric Peter Loiselle of Essex County NY Sheriff’s Dept., NYPD Detective Dillon Stewart, and Detective Daniel Enchautegui.

Local 237 Secretary-Treasurer Gregory Floyd, who attended both ceremonies, said, “the events serve as a lasting tribute to law enforcement officers who make the ultimate sacrifice in the course of doing their job.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spoke at the NYPD memorial, said the 600 names on the wall epitomized the courage of the men and women who gave their lives protecting the people of New York City. “They were true heroes in the way that they loved and in the way they gave their lives,” the Mayor added.