NEW YORK, NY. (THECOUNT) — Anthony Varvaro, of Staten Island, New York, has been identified as the victim killed in a wrong-way crash Sunday.
Varvaro, 37, a former Major League Baseball pitcher who later became a Port Authority police officer, was on his way to work a Manhattan 9/11 service when the tragic crash occurred Sunday.
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Varvaro, who played most of his career for the Atlanta Braves during his six years in the MLB, joined the Port Authority Police Department in 2016, starting out at the World Trade Center Command, according to reports.
The married father of four eventually became an instructor at the department’s police academy, the mag said in February — and a Port Authority source told The Post on Sunday that Varvaro was headed to work at the commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks at the World Trade Center when he was killed, reports NYPost.
Frank Conti, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association said in a statement on Sunday:
“Anthony’s life was taken from us as he prepared to honor the lives of the 37 Port Authority police officers who perished on Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center. Police Officer Anthony Varvaro will always be honored and never forgotten.”
Conti added that Varvaro was “a child of Staten Island, where he grew up among the families of fallen 9/11 police officers and firefighters.”
Officials said that Varvaro was killed in a head-on crash and the vehicle operator who struck him was driving the wrong way at the time.
Varvaro not only pitched for the Braves but also for the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox.
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