By: Paul J. Condra
Alan Cochran almost refused to have his picture taken. He was afraid that if his photo was in the newspaper, people might not realize that he only did what nearly every other police officer or firefighter would do - and what many did do - to assist the rescue efforts at the World Trade Center last week.
Still, Sgt. Cochran, of Lynbrook, is one of the many local officers who were able to help directly with the rescue. His is the story of every police or fire official who put his or her life on the line to help others.
On Tuesday, Sept. 11 when Nassau County officials put out the call to all local departments that available officers should be at the Nassau Coliseum Wednesday morning to assist the rescue efforts, Cochran spent his nightshift calling all the officers who were either off duty or on vacation. He and three other Lynbrook officers went to the Coliseum the next morning.
Wednesday morning he was at the Coliseum along with hundreds of other officers. Shortly, the group was escorted in buses into New York City where, he said, there were thousands of uniformed officers.
On the way in, it was so much different than on the way back,he said. We were talking just about anything we saw or heard on the radio. Nobody knew when we were coming back, nobody had any idea where we were going.
Cochran's first job was working the barricades outside the 6th Precinct; later he moved to St. Vincent's Hospital to assist with crowd control there. As he recounted the story of how cooperative the New Yorkers were that day, his eyes grew wide and intense with excitement. It was as if he were describing something he never imagined possible. Indeed, the words obedient and cooperative typically aren't included in the description of New Yorkers.
People were coming up to us ... every person had bags to donate,he said. Every vehicle that came in [to drop off patients], when they were leaving to go back to ground zero, they were packed with ice, water, everything.
This guy came through with a broken arm, he'd just fell off his bicycle and he said I shouldn't go here right now should I?' I was ready to ask another [officer], and [the injured man] was like, I don't want to bother you right now, I'll just go.'
