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Detective

Claude Daniel Richards

New York City Police Department — New York, NY

September 11, 2001 →Veteran → Felonious

End of Watch September 11, 2001

Age 46

Tour of Duty 18 yrs

Badge 227

The Vigil Panel 331 · Column 3 · Line 3 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Military Memorials 2 Also Remembered Department 1,221

Incident

Claude Daniel Richards was born and raised in Bethpage, Long Island, and later lived in Greenwich Village. He served in the United States Army from 1977 to 1980 as an Airborne Ranger and was a member of the Presidential Honor Guard.

He was appointed to the New York City Police Department on 3 January 1983. In 1986 he was assigned to the Arson and Explosion Division of the Special Investigations Division, whose members were later merged into the Bomb Squad. He became an expert bomb technician, received his detective's shield on 21 July 1989 and was promoted to detective second grade on 20 December 2000. He worked on major cases including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the TWA Flight 800 disaster, a series of retail store firebombings in Queens and an incendiary device set off on a subway train. From September 1996 to October 1997 he took leave to serve with the United Nations International Police Task Force in Bosnia, experience he drew on as the Bomb Squad's intelligence coordinator, working with the Secret Service, the ATF and the State Department.

On 11 September 2001, Detective Richards entered 6 World Trade Center with the Bomb Squad and was killed. It was his second day back at work after a short leave to bury his brother, Bill, a Vietnam War veteran and double amputee who had died a few weeks earlier of complications from his injuries. Detective Richards was 46 years old. He was known as a private, even-tempered man who loved to travel.

September 11, 2001

Detective Claude Daniel Richards was killed at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001. He was 46 years old.

He is one of 71 officers honored here, and one of 23 at New York City Police Department.

Seventy-two law enforcement officers from eight local, state, and federal agencies were killed at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001, alongside 343 members of the New York City Fire Department and more than 2,800 civilians. A fourth aircraft went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a law enforcement officer aboard was among the dead.

Officers went into the towers while everyone else was coming out. More than 25,000 people reached safety because they did.

Survivors

He is survived by his three sisters and two brothers.

In Our Keeping

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: September 22, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Also honored at requiem.nw, salute.nw — U.S. Army. One record, 3 gates. Claude is one person.

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Tributes

You went in while everyone else was coming out.
Detective Richards gave the New York City Police Department 18 years.
Thank you for your service to the New York community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Detective Richards.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department New York City Police Department

Type Police Department

Location New York, NY

Platform Identity nypd.newyork.ny.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch September 11, 2001

Tour of Duty 18 yrs

Age 46

Badge Number 227

Gender Male

Assignment Bomb Squad

Born Bethpage, Long Island, New York

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Cause Detail Terrorist attack

Weapon Aircraft; Passenger jet

Military Service

Claude Daniel Richards served in the U.S. Army (1977â1980) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Claude is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,552 remembered there.

34,103 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 2001, 158 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 23rd heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Claude was 46. Of the 14,219 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Claude had served 18 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death

Where he stood among them

Age by years of service

III

When

September holds 9.1% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Tuesdays: 13.4%.

By month

By day of the week

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,552 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was aircraft; passenger jet, in 0.5% of these deaths.

Every cause

Weapons recorded