William J. Jimeno | |
---|---|
Born | Barranquilla, Colombia | November 26, 1967
Other names | Will Willy |
Police career | |
Department | Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) |
Service years | 2000–2004 |
Rank | 2000 – Commissioned as a police officer |
Badge no. | 1117 |
Awards | Port Authority Police Department Medal of Honor |
Other work | Author |
William J. Jimeno (born November 26, 1967) is a Colombian-American author and retired Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department officer who survived the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was buried under the rubble for a total of 13 hours, but survived, along with fellow Port Authority officer John McLoughlin. He has written two books regarding the experience.
Jimeno was born in 1967 in Colombia but immigrated to New York City as a boy with his family.
At the time of the attacks, he was a rookie cop assigned to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. He saw the shadow of American Airlines Flight 11, the airplane that seconds later hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. He rode to the WTC site with 20 other Port Authority police officers in a commandeered bus. [1]
The collapse of the South Tower trapped Jimeno and two other Port Authority officers, led by Sgt. McLoughlin, under the Concourse between the twin towers. Only Jimeno and McLoughlin survived. Dominick Pezzulo survived the initial collapse but was killed by the collapse of the North Tower while he was trying to free Jimeno.
A USA Today account observed:
Sometimes they yelled for help. But mostly the 48-year-old sergeant, a 21-year veteran, and the 33-year-old rookie talked intimately, sometimes revealing personal things – about kids, families, feelings – that they had never shared with anyone. Jimeno asked the Sergeant to deliver a message over the radio to his wife, Allison, who was seven months pregnant. They had received no response earlier, but he thought maybe their radio call would be picked up on a police tape recording. "Attention," Sgt. McLoughlin announced, "Officer Jimeno requests that his baby girl be named Olivia." His wife had liked the name. He hadn't been so sure. Now, as he prepared to die, he wanted to think of his baby girl, Olivia. [1]
The two men were located and extricated after former U.S. Marines Sergeant Jason Thomas and Staff Sergeant Dave Karnes heard their cries for help. Both survivors, especially McLoughlin, were severely injured. They required several surgeries and months of hospitalization for recovery and rehabilitation. On June 11, 2002, McLoughlin (with a walker) and Jimeno (with a limp) walked across a stage at Madison Square Garden to receive the Port Authority's Medal of Honor. [1]
Jimeno is the author of two books, including one for children, regarding the events of 9/11.
Year | Title | Publisher | ISBN | Pages |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Immigrant, American, Survivor: A Little Boy Who Grew Up To Be All Three (Childrens book/Autobiography) | Charles Ricciardi | 978-0999698655 | 57 |
2021 | Sunrise Through the Darkness: A Survivor's Account of Learning to Live Again Beyond 9/11 (Biography/Autobiography) | University Professors Press | 978-1939686992 | 220 |
The entrapment and rescue were portrayed in the 2006 Oliver Stone film World Trade Center , with Jimeno portrayed by Michael Peña. [2]
On January 2, 2008, Jimeno appeared on the television game show Deal or No Deal and won $271,000. [3]
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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized by the United States Congress. The Port Authority oversees much of the regional transportation infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the geographical jurisdiction of the Port of New York and New Jersey. This 1,500-square-mile (3,900 km2) port district is generally encompassed within a 25-mile (40 km) radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The Port Authority is headquartered at 4 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
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John McLoughlin is a retired American police officer who is known for being one of the two Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officers that survived after being trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. His rescue and that of William Jimeno are later the subject of Oliver Stone's film World Trade Center in 2006, in which McLoughlin was portrayed by actor Nicolas Cage.
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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, or Port Authority Police Department (PAPD), is a law enforcement agency in New York and New Jersey, the duties of which are to protect and to enforce state and city laws at all the facilities, owned or operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), the bi-state agency running airports, seaports, and many bridges and tunnels within the Port of New York and New Jersey. Additionally, the PAPD is responsible for other PANYNJ properties including three bus terminals, the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and the PATH train system. The PAPD is the largest transit-related police force in the United States.
David W. Karnes is a United States Marine who, with fellow U.S. Marine Jason Thomas, located and helped rescue two police officers of the Port Authority Police Department trapped in the rubble from the September 11 attacks after the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001.
Jason Thomas is a United States Marine who located and rescued people in the aftermath of collapse of the World Trade Center in New York City after the September 11 attacks in 2001. With fellow U.S. Marine David Karnes, he helped find a pair of Port Authority Police officers buried in the rubble of the World Trade Center.
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Dominick A. Pezzulo was an Italian American Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD) officer who died in the September 11 attacks in lower Manhattan, New York City in 2001.
The September 11 attacks were the deadliest terrorist attacks in human history, causing the deaths of 2,996 people, including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers who committed murder–suicide. Thousands more were injured, and long-term health effects have arisen as a consequence of the attacks. New York City took the brunt of the death toll when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan were attacked, with an estimated 1,600 victims from the North Tower and around a thousand from the South Tower. Two hundred miles southwest in Arlington County, Virginia, another 125 were killed in the Pentagon. The remaining 265 fatalities included the ninety-two passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11, the sixty-five aboard United Airlines Flight 175, the sixty-four on American Airlines Flight 77 and the forty-four who boarded United Airlines Flight 93. The attack on the World Trade Center's North Tower alone made the September 11 attacks the deadliest act of terrorism in human history.
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