Former NYPD Sergeant Mike Codella Talks Being Buried Alive on September 11

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

Carol Massar (0:07)

Everyone of a certain age has their own 9-11 story.

Tim Stenovec (0:11)

They certainly do, including Mike Codella. He is particularly harrowing. He is an NYPD detective sergeant. He was assigned to Building 7, which was also known as the Solomon Brothers Building, and was actually buried alive when a building fell on him.

Carol Massar (0:26)

He's the author of the forthcoming book, The Evil That Walked New York. He joins us from New York. Mike, welcome. It's good to have you on the program today.

No question a somber day, and we're grateful for you joining us. Can you take us back to that sunny Tuesday morning in lower Manhattan?

Mike Codella (0:45)

Sure.

So like everyone else, when the first plane hit, I just assumed that it was a pilot off course and crashed into the World Trade Center. I was actually home at the time getting ready to go to work. My office was in the Seven Wall Trade Center. I was assigned to the Secret Service Task Force. So I just got dressed like any other day, paid attention to the news, got my car, and headed off to lower Manhattan. When I got into the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the tunnel was bumper-to-bumper traffic. No cars were moving. And shortly thereafter, I heard that the second plane hit. When the second plane hit, we all, most of us anyway, assumed that we were under attack, that we were under some kind of terrorist attack on our homeland. I tried to, I put my lights and sirens on, trying to get out of our tunnel, but there was so much traffic and such congestion in that little two-lane tunnel, I couldn't get out.

Finally, an FDNY truck passed by, blaring their sirens, and that's a huge truck. Their sirens are really loud, so vehicles were getting out of the way. I was able to negotiate my car behind their truck, and I got out of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, once in downtown Manhattan. Again, traffic was at a standstill, so I just pulled my car over, parked at a fire hydrant, and ran towards the building. I was in civilian clothes, so when I got to the building, prior to getting to the building, I stopped off at a corner bodega, and I asked the guy if I could use his phone. I wanted to call my wife and let her know I was okay.

My cell phone wasn't working. Very few cell phones were working because the cell towers were on the World Trade Center. So I had no cell service. I asked this guy in the store if I could use his hotline phone, and of course he let me. I called my wife. I told her that I was fine. I was just going into the building to help evacuate some of the people at the World Trade Center.

So I hung up. I ran over to the World Trade Center and I deed myself. And I got into the building. I went into the south tower. As I ran in, I saw the FDMI chiefs in the lobby with the huge wall trades and a floor plan laid out on the lobby floor. I went up into one of the staircases to try to help people out. But there were so many people rushing out of that staircase that I was actually going to hinder them if I continued. So I found another staircase. I went up that staircase again, looking to help people evacuate. Because of the fire, the threat of fire and the burning was what I was actually looking to help people get out of. But as I started to go up the stairs, I heard a loud explosion. And then, the earth vibrated. And I actually thought that we were hit with another plane.

I had no clue or no indication, or I couldn't fathom that the building was coming down. But as the building continued to shake, I came down from the stairs and I saw the chiefs, all the FDNY chiefs running out of the building. And I followed suit. And it was around that time when the building collapsed. And threw me some 15, 20 feet out of the building.

Tim Stenovec (4:16)

I don't even know where to begin or where to pick up on that.

Were you able to walk? Were you able to? Were you covered? Were you, did you have to wait for someone to help you out?

Mike Codella (4:30)

So I was covered, but I wasn't under like feet of debris. I had probably a couple of inches on me and I was laying on my back.