2017 NJSPBA Mini-Convention
The spark of hope in dark places
Port Authority Officer Will Jimeno shares how he survived the attacks of 9 / 11, and the light he held on to while trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center
n BY AMBER RAMUNDO
Three words enabled Will Jimeno to survive the weight of Sept. 11, 2001. The Port Authority Local 116 member from Hackensack had seen more horrific, heart-wrenching things that day than any human should ever witness. He watched people he loved and respected die before his eyes. He was buried 30 feet under the rubble of a skyscraper. And yet, Jimeno found it within himself to hold on.
Looking back on that day and recalling the massacre of terror that crashed into the iconic twin towers, it’ s difficult to comprehend how anyone could withstand the weight of the World Trade Center crumbling. But Jimeno’ s survival germinated from those three words: faith, hope and love.
He now shares the power of those words across the blue line to instill in law enforcement officers everywhere that they too can hold on in their darkest hours.
“ The difference between us and you guys is absolutely nothing,” Jimeno shared to NJ State PBA members as the designated inspirational speaker at the 2017 Mini-Convention.“ This is not my story, this is our story.”
He says this in a way that reinforces how no one can predict when tragedy will hit and that there’ s no way to know when officers will receive the call that puts them in the middle of a dark situation. As he shares the story that changed his life – and was portrayed in Oliver Stone’ s movie World Trade Center – he scans the crowd of officers and sees himself in each one of them.
Jimeno was nine months on the job when 9 / 11 turned tragic. His graduation from the Port Authority Academy took place at the base of the World Trade Center, and he was just beginning to learn what the blue line was all about.
“ I would skip down the stairs every day to go to work because I loved going to work,” Jimeno related, reminding members of that enthusiasm most officers start their careers with.“ As a rookie cop we all know that feeling.”
On 9 / 11, he brought that gusto to work. He had a baby on the way. Life was good. But as he stepped into the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where he was first assigned, on that sunny day to patrol“ the rush” of morning commuters, he glimpsed across an intersection where he saw the street turn completely black in a split second. It was 8:45 a. m. and Jimeno’ s day was about to turn upside-down.
A command called out from Jimeno’ s radio:“ Every officer back to the desk.”
In the bus terminal control room, Port Authority officers first saw the hole at the top of the North Tower on TV. Just nine months out of the academy, and he was already in the center where no first responder ever imagines being.
“ Everything we learned in the academy was coming true.
These are terrorists,” Jimeno recalled thinking. However aware he was that this was a terrorist attack in action, Jimeno volunteered to go downtown to the scene, along with two other officers he was with, Dominick Pezzulo and Antonio Rodrigues.
“ I was always told to follow someone into a bad situation who knows what they’ re doing because your percent chance of coming out is that much higher,” explains Jimeno. The group followed Sergeant John McLoughlin, a 24-year veteran of Port Authority Police.
The streets were filled with devastation – papers, dust, debris and human parts strewn across the concrete. In that moment, he surveyed the bedlam of his surroundings and felt helpless.
“ I felt this big,” Jimeno described, holding up his thumb and index finger with enough space in between to fit a tic-tac.“ I became a cop because I wanted to help people. I loved the job, but I felt this big. Every time I saw somebody jump, it was like pebbles falling into a river. That’ s somebody’ s mother, son, daughter …”
Sometimes first responders can’ t quite comprehend what they are seeing. But as Jimeno depicted, there is something within officers that keeps them moving forward, closer to the danger, acting on that instinct of training and responsibility.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 32 www. njcopsmagazine. com ■ MARCH 2017 31