Donnalynn Darling Noted in NY Daily News, "Hero's Girl Cries, 'I Miss my Daddy'"

Media Source: WCBS-TV, New York Daily News

THE WIDOW OF an FDNY lieutenant filed a lawsuit against the city yesterday as their 10-year-old daughter tearfully pined for her father, who died when he jumped from the fourth floor of a burning Bronx building.

'I miss my daddy,' cried Angela Meyran, daughter of Lt. Curtis Meyran. 'Nobody should have to grow up like this. I want my daddy back!'

Her emotional words came eight months after Meyran and Firefighter John Bellew, 37, were killed in a desperate, 50-foot plunge that critically injured four other firefighters.

Angela, her sister Danine, 7, and 17-year-old brother Dennis were outside the Bronx Supreme Court House yesterday as their mom, Jeanette Meyran, and her attorney, Donnalynn Darling, fielded questions about the wrongful death and negligence lawsuit.

The suit blames the city for failing to provide a safety rope for Meyran and the building's owners for illegal subdivisions that blocked escape. On Jan 23, the firefighters had been looking for tenants trapped inside 236 E. 178th St. by an electrical fire when they were forced out the window by flames.

'My husband did not have to die like that,' Jeanette Meyran, 46, said with tears in her eyes. 'My children and I are suffering and they miss their father. The Fire Department compromised the safety of my husband and the other men that day.'

Attorneys for the city declined comment, saying they had not yet seen legal papers. An FDNY spokesman said the department will distribute personal safety systems next week.

Meyran said she will adopt her 46-year-old husband's 'don't sweat the small stuff' attitude as she raises their children alone. 'My husband knew what he faced every day and he never brought it home,' she said. 'It's only now that I understand what he went through. Now I tell others don't sweat the small stuff.'