Lest we forget… From the New York Times, Jan. 26:
Woman Who Survived 9/11 Is Killed by a Car in the City
It was a beautiful morning on Sept. 11, 2001, so Florence Cioffi made a decision that helped save her life: She left her office in the World Trade Center for a coffee break and was able to flee the devastation of the terrorist attack.Ms. Cioffi remained with the same company when it moved to Jersey City after 9/11, commuting from her home in Brooklyn. On Thursday, Ms. Cioffi, days from her 60th birthday, was again in Lower Manhattan, having dinner with friends in the city she loved.
Ms. Cioffi was crossing Water Street on her way home when she was hit by a black Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, the police said. She was pronounced dead about half an hour later.
The driver of the car, identified as George W. Anderson, was traveling north on Water Street when he ran over Ms. Cioffi shortly before 11 p.m. between Hanover Square and Old Slip, the police said. He kept driving, the police said, but returned to the scene a short time later.
Mr. Anderson, who is the founder and chief executive of Enterprise Engineering Inc., a computer software and services company that works with financial services firms, refused a police request to take a Breathalyzer test, the police said. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. The results of a blood-alcohol test administered to him later have not been announced.
Mr. Anderson was arraigned on Friday night in front of Judge Abraham Clott in Manhattan Criminal Court and later released on $250,000 bond.
An assistant district attorney, Erin LaFarge, told the judge that Mr. Anderson had been driving at 60 miles per hour when he allegedly hit Ms. Cioffi.
“The woman flew into the air and was killed,” Ms. LaFarge said. She said that according to the police officers, Mr. Anderson smelled of alcohol, his speech was slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Mr. Anderson’s lawyer, Jan D. Goldman, said his client was not guilty and that the accident took place while his client had a green light.
“It looks like an absolute accident,” Mr. Goldman said.
News of Ms. Cioffi’s death reached her longtime fiancé, William Mosca, shortly before dawn, when detectives knocked on the door of the house in Gerritsen Beach that the couple had shared for 16 years.
Mr. Mosca recalled how on 9/11, he and Ms. Cioffi fled the chaotic and smoke-shrouded streets of Lower Manhattan and across the Brooklyn Bridge.
“She survived the trade center, and she was run down like a dog in the street,” said Mr. Mosca, speaking on the front path of their home on Gerritsen Avenue.
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