Jerry Vasquez oral history interview conducted by Dr. Benjamin Luft, July 30, 2010

About

Jerry worked as an NYPD police officer with the 73rd precinct in Brooklyn on 9/11/2001. On the morning of the attack, he was on desk duty processing arrests. He heard from officers that a plane hit one of the Twin Towers. He initially thought it was an accident. As the officers watched TV from the precinct lounge, they saw the second plane hit the tower. Jerry states, "Then many officers suspected this was an act of terrorism." He states, "There was a major adrenaline rush in the atmosphere (of the precinct)." Each precinct mobilized the first wave of police officers and supervisors to send to the WTC site. He states, "The second wave of officers was on standby. . .we were all anxious to get over there and help out." While getting ready to ship out, the first tower fell, and he states, "The (police) radio was going crazy." Jerry and his fellow officers were bussed on the second wave over the Brooklyn Bridge to Canal Street. He states, "(On the bus) It was very quiet, we talked about the events and listened to the (police) radio, which was very hectic." He states, "We could smell the burning from where my precinct was." When they arrived, they got assignments from their supervisors to secure the perimeter around the WTC area. He states, "We didn't want people to go into dangerous situations if they weren't trained." On the first day, he spent about 12-13 hours securing the site. This went on for about two weeks. Then he was assigned to rotations at the landfill. He also did…

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Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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