Constance Labetti (CL)
CL: Ron turned to me, and he said, ”Hey, look at that plane. That plane is flying too low.” And I didn’t really pay too much attention. I’d been in the towers for so long, I’d seen so much airplanes, helicopters, blimps. But Ron, he screamed, ”It’s going to hit us!” I just stood frozen. I didn’t move–I couldn’t move. I could see it coming closer and closer. I could see the ”AA” on its tail. I could see the tinted windows of the cockpit–that’s how close I was. The plane, it was just swallowed up by the building. It was just gone, and all there was was this red, black smoke. And Ron, he said, ”We have to get out of here. Go to the staircase.” I remember hearing the PA announcement come on, ”Do not evacuate.” But Ron, he knew he had to get us out of there. And we all just made it out ok. The next day about eight o’clock in the morning, the phone started ringing, and, um, it was my boss Ron’s son. I just immediately started to tell him how much of a hero I thought his dad was, and he got us all to the staircase. And he said, ”Connie, when did you see my dad last?” And I said, ”He didn’t come home?” The last that was heard of Ron was that he was out of the building. He lent somebody his cell phone just as the tower came down, so they think that he might have been hit with the debris. He actually wasn’t supposed to be in work that day. I think of that. I think of if Ron wasn’t in that day. He’s the reason I’m here, there’s no question about it. Most of us survived that day because of him.