story5944.xml

story5944.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I had dropped my kids off at child day care center at Fort Hamilton and decided to drive fearing that I would be late for work. Everything was going as usual (traffic by the toll before entering the tunnel in Brooklyn). I had gone through the tunnel and was stopped at the light before the bridge that connected the finanial center when I heard an explosion and something hit the top of the car. I looked up and saw a smoke cloud on top of the first tower. In a panic, everyone waiting on that light tried to go reverse into the side street. I had made it to a street right behind the towers where I was trying to use my cell phone to call my boss. My phone didn't work so I had to get out of my vehicle to use a public phone. I had informed my boss that there was an explosion at the top of one of the World Trade center towers. I thought that it was a terrorist act because of the bomb explosion a few years back. When I got back in the car, the news broadcaster informed that it was a small plane so I just assumed that it was really an accident because prior to that week there were accidents involving small planes. I was waiting on the light right behind the second tower when the second plane hit and I saw the building light up right in front of me from bottom to the top and I paniced and tried to make an immediate right. I panicked because i didn't want to hit any of the pedestrians running away from the explosion. I made it as far as the south street seaport when I saw people running towards me and I heard noises like shots being fired and at this time I knew that it was a terrorist act because I had heard on the radio what was going on with the hijacking of the planes and about the plane diving into the pentagon. I started to scream out "Oh my God! they are coming after us to kill us with guns" and at that point I started to cry because the sounds from the building crumbling sounded like gun shots. Then the police came and ordered everyone out of their vehicles and directed us to go towards the waters. That's when the towers started to collapse and I saw people coming out the debris it was like a dream because all you saw was smoke from the debris and people coming out of nowhere. Some people were bloody and full of soot but they were walking as fast as they could. I saw three young ladies that attended either a high school or Middle school across the street from the towers and they looked really desperate. One was having problems with her asthma so I picked them up and I drove until we could get to the upperside of manhattan. I tell you that day I will never forget how one couldn't breathe because the debris made the air so thick. I was lucky to have been in my vehicle and if it wasn't for God I would have been one of the victims. It was only God that I didn't hit anyone in the street trying to get away from the explosion. I just felt so helpless that day like now when I think about it, I wish that I had taken some people in the car with me but in a panic I wasn't thinking about anything but getting out of there. I just thank God that I was one that survived.