Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Day shift in Sector 5, (InternationalDrive/WDW). I had picked up the inter-office mail at the sub-station and I was en route to Operstions. I stopped at a convenience store near the Convention Center to pick up a bottle of water. I talked with the clerk for a few minutes then left. As I walked out the door a citizen was walking in. As we passed he said officer did you hear that a small plane crashed into the World Trade Center? I replied that I had not. My first thoughts were of a military aircraft crashing into the crashing into the Empire State Building toward the end of WWII. I decided to drive over to the Peabody Hotel to see if it was on their tv. My buddy Fred Prassack was Director of Security there. When I arrived they were standing around the tv watching the burning building. I called the sub-station to tell them what happened. In just a little while the second plane hit. I decided to forget the mail and returned to the sub-station. I was able to contact my two kids and briefed them. The rest of that day was utter chaos. WDW, Sea World and Universal Studios all decided to close the parks. There was a consensus that the parks, with the large crowds, could be potential targets. Now I know LA, and NYC has traffic issues but this was unbelievable. Our helicopter and the TV news helicopters reported the traffic gridlock. I-4, the Bee Line and everything in between were at a standstill. We called all of the deputies in the Sector back to the sub station. We also had 25-30 FHP Troopers there with us. There was no use trying to drive in this traffic. The administration decided that we would only be dispatched to code-3 (emergency) calls. There was no way we could get through this gridlock anyway. As the day passed, we eventually released everyone to return to their zones. I remember one of the guys asking if this was similar to the reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Smart ass.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 10:34:36 +0000