Former NYC Police Detective Recalls 9/11 First Response Efforts

As the Tenth Anniversary of September 11th approaches, many are reliving the painful memories of that day. But for those who experienced the attacks first-hand in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, the anniversary brings even stronger memories and emotions.

A first-responder in Manhattan shared those life-changing moments with behavioral science students Thursday at Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces.

“All of a sudden we’re standing there, watching and boom, there goes another one,” David Levine, a former New York City police detective, said.

Levine recalled for a class of students the exact moment he saw a second plane crash into the World Trade Center.

“We’re standing there and we’re listening and we knew, we knew we were going down,” Levine said.

Levine was among hundreds of first-responders.

“I saw literally mounds and mounds of debris 30, 40, 50 feet high in the area of the World Trade Center,” Levine said.

Images are forever ingrained in his mind.

“Standing in the debris… I saw beams with the number 65 on it, which showed me the I-beam was from the 65th floor from one of the towers,” Levine said.

Levine says photographs he took that day are solely for others, who were not there or may have been too young to remember, to try and understand.

“One of the unfortunate things I did find while we were going through debris was a female; from the waist down I could tell it was a female, and that sent a message through me beyond belief that the destruction, the devastation, the tremendous amount of victims involved was beyond my comprehension,” Levine said. “I still get chills thinking about it. What we thought was a rescue became a recovery effort; and as a rescue worker, police detective you are trained to solve the issue, solve the problem, and here there was no way to solve it other than pick up the pieces.”

Levine says he wants students to understand the threat of terrorism is just as real today as it was ten years ago; although he adds, a single group cannot be targeted or blamed.

“9-11 is just one incident that took place that was conducted by a particular group – we cannot as a country say it’s one group or another; we just have to be vigilant, be careful and realize it can come from any place in our society.”