Yahoo! is asking Americans how September 11 changed them. Below is an account from a reader.
On 9/11, I was a detective with the NYPD Internal Affairs working on Hudson and Spring Street in lower Manhattan. You could see the towers from our office. A sergeant came running into our office yelling the towers were hit by a plane.
We looked out our windows and watched as the second tower was hit. We all began to get suited up to go running down to help when a supervisor stopped us. He said lets figure out what we are going to do.
Well, that saved the NYPD from losing more officers than they did that day. We decided to set up a missing persons hotline with 50-plus phones and also went to local hospitals and schools to help the injured. In the days to follow we went to ground zero to dig and do security as well as digging at the landfill in Staten Island.
While in the landfill working 14 hours a day we found many bones and a gun and a fireman’s boot within the rubble. To this day I think about that day everyday a think about my friend Det. Stephen Drisscoll (ESU) who was lost on that day. Remember: It’s not if it will happen but when. Stay safe America, Stay Safe.