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September 11, 2001 started out as any other day. At the time, I was a sergeant at the sheriff’s office in Alpena County.
As I remember it, it was a beautiful sunny day. I had a preliminary hearing scheduled for the morning on a domestic violence case that I had investigated. I went into the prosecutor’s office prior to the hearing and after it. I walked back into the office where I observed several staff members watching a news broadcast showing a plane hit the first tower.
I was shocked at seeing it, wondering how a plane could fly into the tower thinking there was more into the event. I left the prosecutor’s office and went home and spent the rest of the morning watching the news and seeing the second plane hit the second tower, a third plane crash into the Pentagon and a fourth crash in Pennsylvania.
After the second plane hit the tower, it was clear that the United States was under a terrorist attack.
As I prepared to go back into work, I wondered what the day would be like. Would it be a busy day because of the events that took place earlier in the day or would things remain calm?
As I traveled into the office, traffic seemed to be like a “normal” day. At the office, I spoke with coworkers about what was taking place, looked over the dispatch log to see what had taken place earlier and there was nothing remarkable. I got into a patrol car and traveled around Alpena County to see what the traffic conditions were like and to respond to any call for service.
While on patrol, I didn’t see any signs of panic and I didn’t receive any calls for service regarding what took place on that day.
There were only a couple of events that took place that drew my attention. As the work day came to an end, I observed heavy traffic congestion at all of the gas stations that were in operation at that time. If there were any signs of anxiousness, it was from everyone who was concerned about making sure their gas tanks were full.
I received no complaints from the employees at the stations about customers who waited in line. I paid particular attention to the stations out in the county to make sure that there were no traffic hazards from all of the cars that were waiting on the roads to fuel their tanks.
The only disappointment that I had personally observed was from the gas stations who raised their fuel prices as vehicles waited in line, as all but one station raised their prices. I was tempted to take photographs of these stations should the need arise to send the information to the state attorney’s office but didn’t.
That situation was remedied later by the state’s AG’s office.
People remained calm throughout the rest of my shift.
The other situation that I distinctly remember was at the end of my shift. Earlier in the day, the federal aviation administration required all aircraft to land and remain grounded. I remember looking into the night sky and observed no aircraft in the air and telling myself that I will never, hopefully, see the sky like this again.