COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Jerry Kane, a retired detective sergeant from the New York City Police Department, vividly recalls the day the Twin Towers fell. Living just six miles from the towers, Kane was at home when the call came in.
“If I died that day, I know what I signed up for. Right?” said Kane.
Kane considers himself fortunate, noting, “I’m probably the luckiest person you’ll ever meet in your life, because certainly people all around me got killed.”
Later that night, Kane was stationed at the city’s morgue where 11 bodies arrived from the devastation.
“That was pretty depressing, to tell you the truth. We were hoping to find more. More people, but it was tough. It was tough to find people,” he said.
The aftermath of 9/11 continues to stay with Kane. He described the dangerous conditions they worked under.
“It was dangerous stuff going on. They would take cranes and remove pieces of steel that weighed 50 tons, moving it in the blind and sometimes over people, which you would never see at a construction site, but we were doing that,” Kane said.
Members of the Coeur d’Alene community also shared their views on violence in the country, both then and now.
“There is no room for violence in this country. We are better than that. We are bigger than that. We know we should realize that we may not like what each other says, but we’re in a country where we each are free to have our own opinion, and we should respect that,” Davalu Cummings said.
Cummings, who attends the 9/11 ceremony yearly, expressed similar sentiments.
“Violence is never an answer and for Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and their organization to plan this and execute it, they just killed innocent people,” said Kane.
Kane reflected on his feelings after September 11, 2001, acknowledging the anger he felt.
“I will tell you, I sure had some violent thoughts after 9/11 about getting some retribution. Over time, I’ve kind of walked back from that but I’ll tell you what, on 9/12 I certainly wanted to pay back,” Kane said.
Now, 24 years later, Kane continues to heal from the heartache while remembering the support New York received from across the nation.
“Time does help, help you heal,” Kane said.
