story11698.xml
Title
story11698.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2005-08-07
911DA Story: Story
I was driving to work as normal, taking university drive down into Hollywood, FL. The news came across the radio on the Howard Stern show (who doesnt want to laugh in the morning?)... I nearly crashed my car. Ft Lauderdale as my location is deceptive, I am a New Jersey native, my entire family lives in northern New Jersey. I pulled into Whole Foods market in Plantation, FL in near shock. At this point only one plane had struck so I was unaware of the totality of what was going on. As usual I got my coffee and informed the cashier that the tower had been hit, they had not heard yet.
I got back in my car and actually left the coffee on the roof as I drove away (something I remembered later). I suppose I was in a state of semi-shock. Then I heard the news of the second hit and the realization that we were under attack. Immediately I tried to raise my family on my cell phone to no avail.
As of right now all I knew was:
-My brother had been working in the basement of the towers for a few months for a telecommunications company. He is the type of person who would run into a burning building (he performed CPR on a dying man at Costco once a few years earlier, it was just his nature)
-My mother works for the state of NJ and therefore works in a building that could be a target.
-Friends and family live and work in NY
Panic. I could not reach anyone. I made it to work in one piece only to be glued to my computer watching what was going on. One collapse... then two...
The only contact I had with my family was my cousin who was in an apartment overlooking central park.. she was scared.
I finally was able to reach my family at about 2pm. My brother was transferred from that project the friday before. My cousin's husband ran 30 blocks home after being in the shadow of the buildings during the attack. Friends I knew happened to not go to work that day... and some did...
My family was untouched. But 2 of my high school friends were not so lucky. I had lost touch with them but they were regular people who I grew up with, played ball with etc. My age, dead for no reason beyond unreasonable hate. I learned later of the stories of friends searching the hospitals for weeks.. I can only ponder the horror I was spared in my family. Recently streets in my hometown were renamed in their honor.
Scott Schertzer
Kevin Cohen
may you rest in peace.
I got back in my car and actually left the coffee on the roof as I drove away (something I remembered later). I suppose I was in a state of semi-shock. Then I heard the news of the second hit and the realization that we were under attack. Immediately I tried to raise my family on my cell phone to no avail.
As of right now all I knew was:
-My brother had been working in the basement of the towers for a few months for a telecommunications company. He is the type of person who would run into a burning building (he performed CPR on a dying man at Costco once a few years earlier, it was just his nature)
-My mother works for the state of NJ and therefore works in a building that could be a target.
-Friends and family live and work in NY
Panic. I could not reach anyone. I made it to work in one piece only to be glued to my computer watching what was going on. One collapse... then two...
The only contact I had with my family was my cousin who was in an apartment overlooking central park.. she was scared.
I finally was able to reach my family at about 2pm. My brother was transferred from that project the friday before. My cousin's husband ran 30 blocks home after being in the shadow of the buildings during the attack. Friends I knew happened to not go to work that day... and some did...
My family was untouched. But 2 of my high school friends were not so lucky. I had lost touch with them but they were regular people who I grew up with, played ball with etc. My age, dead for no reason beyond unreasonable hate. I learned later of the stories of friends searching the hospitals for weeks.. I can only ponder the horror I was spared in my family. Recently streets in my hometown were renamed in their honor.
Scott Schertzer
Kevin Cohen
may you rest in peace.
Collection
Citation
“story11698.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 31, 2025, https://www.911digitalarchive.org/items/show/7662.