Dominick Pezzulo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dominick A. Pezzulo (August 15, 1965 – September 11, 2001) was a Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) officer. On the morning of September 11, 2001, he volunteered for the rescue effort in the first World Trade Center building as it was burning with the help of PAPD Sergeant John McLoughlin and Officer Will Jimeno. As the South Tower collapsed, the men quickly ran for their lives to the building's elevator shaft. Only Pezzulo, McLoughlin and Jimeno would survive the initial hit, but soon afterwards Pezzulo's words were drowned by the fall of debris.
"Just remember me, I died trying to save you guys," were his last words. He fired a single shot into the air trying to let the others know where his friends were, and then died.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Jean-ette Pezzulo met her husband Dominick while they were attending Herbert H. Lehman High School in the Bronx. Although they knew each other from the neighborhood and school, they didn't start dating until they finished high school.
Dominick A. Pezzulo returned to teach auto repair, math and computer technology at Lehman High School. During the weekends, he indulged his interest in airplanes at a nearby aeronautics school.
After seven years as a teacher, Pezzulo became a Port Authority Police Officer. He was stationed at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Pezzulo was on his new job only 13 months when he received the urgent telephone call on September 11, 2001. He and other officers commandeered a city bus and raced downtown to the World Trade Center.
[edit] September 11th, 2001
According to an account in CourtTV's Crime Library [1], Pezzulo was stationed at the Port Authority bus terminal in midtown Manhattan with fellow rookie Will Jimeno, 34, at the time of the attacks. Word had spread quickly that an airplane had struck the World Trade Center. Sergeant John McLoughlin ran through the bus terminal collecting men who wanted to help downtown. Jimeno and Pezzulo immediately volunteered.
McLoughlin and the other Port Authority officers were on the ground floor level of the World Trade Center when the South Tower collapsed. McLoughlin shouted for his men to run to the freight elevators. As they fled, the ceiling gave way and the concourse above crashed down on them, dispersing the fireball.
McLoughlin, Jimeno and Pezzulo were the only survivors. Pezzulo was face down next to Jimeno, covered with plaster dust and chunks of ceiling, and McLoughlin was about 20 feet away.
Pezzulo, who lifted weights to stay fit, told Jimeno that he was all right and started to dig himself out. When he finally got to his feet, he assured Jimeno that he would get him out. But then a deafening rumble drowned out his words and everything started to shake violently. The two men couldn't see it, but the North Tower was collapsing. New chunks of concrete rained down, and a heavy concrete slab the size of a mattress landed in Pezzulo's lap.
Pezzulo, gravely wounded and trapped by the slab, fired a shot toward the light to alert rescuers to their whereabouts. He died shortly thereafter. He left behind a 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. His funeral was held at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, NY.
[edit] World Trade Center film
In the film World Trade Center by Oliver Stone, the character Dominick Pezzulo was played by actor Jay Hernandez. [2]
"Many people who have seen the movie World Trade Center (directed by Oliver Stone) wonder whether he shot himself with the gun before dying. This is not the case. He simply fired a single shot into the air towards the light to alert rescue units as to the whereabouts of the other two police officers trapped in the rubble."
