 |
 |
March 21, 2002 WTC searchers find remains of NYC policewoman
NEW YORK (AP) -- No one ordered Officer Moira Smith to respond to the World Trade Center on September 11. She had been taking witness statements at a Manhattan police station and rushed downtown voluntarily. Her name tag and shield were discovered near her remains at Ground Zero on Wednesday, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. The 38-year-old Smith was the only city policewoman killed in the World Trade Center attack and only the second policewoman killed in the line of duty in the history of the New York Police Department. Twenty-three city police officers were killed in the terrorist attack. Smith was among thousands of police officers, firefighters, Port Authority officers and other emergency personnel who responded that day. Her partner, Officer Robert Fazio, also died. Smith's voice was heard over a police radio, directing people out of the burning buildings as she helped an asthma victim. A news photographer captured her in her uniform, guiding a bleeding man to safety. Her remains were found along with those of two court officers identified as Tom Jurgens, 26, and Mitchel Wallace, 34, and two Port Authority police officers whose identities were not immediately released. Last month, rescue workers found the remains of police Capt. Kathy Mazza, who was among the 37 Port Authority officers killed September 11 and the only other female law enforcer who died in the attack, agency spokesman Greg Trevor said. Earlier in the week, the city medical examiner identified the remains of 21 people, including one flight attendant who had been aboard American Airlines Flight 11. The continuing retrieval Wednesday came one day after the medical examiner positively identified the remains of two firefighters -- Matthew Barnes, 37, and John McAvoy, 47. Barnes had been awarded the department's Honor Legion Medal for his role in a March 1999 rescue of infant twins from a Manhattan high-rise apartment fire. Of the 343 Fire Department members lost September 11, the remains of nearly 160 have been identified.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |