9/11 Ceremony

To commemorate the anniversary of 9/11/2001, we held a ceremony for Richard Rodriquez, a graduate of MCVTHS, who perished on the morning of the attacks.

Below is his biography:

Richard Rodriguez is a graduate of our home district, Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools. After Rodriguez graduated, he became a Port Authority Police officer.

On September 11th 2001, Officer Rodriguez was at the police academy at the time the first plane struck and he immediately responded to the scene with other officers, arriving just as the second plane hit the towers. Officer Rodriguez was credited with saving many lives before being killed during the second collapse.

He is survived by his mother and father, Ana and Miguel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico, his brother Miguel Rodriguez of Burnt Hills, New York, and his sister Ana Ramos, of Fords, New Jersey.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, seventy-two officers from a total of eight local, state, and federal agencies were killed when terrorist hijackers working for the al Qaeda terrorist network, headed by Osama bin Laden, crashed two of four hijacked planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. After the impact of the first plane, putting the safety of others before their own, law enforcement officers along with fire and EMS personnel, rushed to the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to aid the victims and lead them to safety. Due to their quick actions, it is estimated that over 25,000 people were saved.

As the evacuation continued, the first tower unexpectedly collapsed due to the intense fire caused by the impact. The second tower collapsed a short time later. 71 law enforcement officers, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department and over 2,800 civilians were killed at the World Trade Center site.