story7480.xml

story7480.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-15

I was on my tea break in the Police Canteen; remember we are five hours ahead of you in the UK, so it was early afternoon for us when the planes hit the Towers. I was sitting in front of the television, mug of tea in hand, waiting to watch the afternoon local news before returning to my desk where I worked as a Race Liaison Officer. I deal with victims of Race crimes and incidents and it soon would become apparent that my role would never before be more needed than it was now. The backlash that would surely follow such a horrific attack would drag down the innocent along with the guilty.

I sat in my wheelchair and for a few seconds was bewildered as to why I was looking at a New York landscape rather than a Sussex one. However I soon realised why. I watched in horrified fascination as live pictures were beamed over to our side of the Atlantic. We were watching everything in real-time. It hadn't already happened, it WAS happening RIGHT now. I remember thinking numbly, "there's so much smoke, so much smoke, it looks like Smog, I wonder how many people are trapped?...oh my God there's another plane, sweet mother of Jesus, it's going for the other Tower, oh bloody hell, I can't look! I can't look!" But I did look, I didn't even close my eyes, I just looked and looked and looked until my eyes hurt.

One of my colleague's came from my office came looking for me as I was late returning to my desk. He hadn't heard the news. I was one of the first people in Brighton Police Station to be aware of what had just taken place. He put his hand on my shoulder and said.
"What's happening kid?"
I told him and he stared at the television for a couple of minutes and then said.
"We better tell the DI (Detective Inspector), I think this will affect everyone, not just the US."
I nodded my head.
In those first brief few minutes of death and destruction our lives in the UK had changed. And it would never be the same again...