THE
PORT AUTHORITY
OF NY & NJ
Memorandum
TO:
Chief Joseph Morris
FROM:
Anthony
FitzgeraldDATE: March
25,
2002
SUBJECT:
EVENT
OF
9/11
COPY: file
On
the
morning
of
September
11,
2001,
my
assignment was, Detective Sergeant assigned
toLaGuardia
Airport.
After
the
LaGuardia
command had been
notified
that a plane had struck oneof the World Trade Center towers, you, as Commanding
Officer
of LaGuardia Airport, ordered a
facility
mobilization responseto theWTC.I
was
supervising three
(3)
detectives working
that
tour, Det's James
Nachstein,
George Dorner
and
Jose Molina. I instructed all three detectives to gather as much crime scene equipment aspossible and be ready to respond quickly, as one
facility,
with
uniform
personnel
form
LGA. I
then
contacted
3x11
Det. John Dotzler and instructed him to respond ASAP to work for coverage
at
LGA.Once
at the WTC
complex,
we
parked directly
across
from
the Barkley
Street
entrance
to the
WTC.We started walking downBarkleyStreet when someone yelled that the
Port
AuthorityPolice command post was located on West Street near the
foot
bridge. Heading down BarkleyStreet
we
meet
Det's
from
other commands
(D/Sgt
Leather
&
D/Sgt
Zika).
I
also
remember
uniform
personnel exiting
a van and I
instructed them
to
follow
us to the
command post
on
WestStreet.Once at the command post on West Street, looking up, it was clear to see that the fire in tower
one was
fully
involved
and
there were people
at the
windows above
the floors
that were
on fire.
At
the
command post were approximately
30-40
PAPD
uniform
and
detective personnel.
I
remember speaking with
Sgt
Flynn,
we
started
instructing
all
personnel
to
line
up so we
couldaccount
for all
personnel
at the
scene
and
wait
for
further
instructing
from
Inspector Morris.
As I
started writing
the
names
of the
personnel
at the
scene
I
heard
a
loud explosion type sound.Looking up at the tower, people were jumping
from
the tower and the explosion type sound were
their
bodies hitting the pavement below. I remember seeing at least
10
people jump from thetower.
Suddenly
I
heard
I
roar type sound
and
saw, what
I
thought was,
a
piece
of
tower
two
falling
to
theground (it was tower two collapsing). We all started
fleeing
north on West Street from the
falling
debris. I remember stopping when I noticed that
Officer
John
LaSala,
from
LGA,
was
having
difficultly
breathing.
I
assisted
EMS in
placing
him in the
back
of an
ambulance.
Iremember
that
Officer
LaSala was
covered
with debris.
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