Three court officers perished on September 11, 2001 while rescuing victims during the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Twenty Manhattan court officers rushed to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. Today two court officers are honored with corners in front of a New York County courthouse, while the third has a NYC Parks greenspace dedicated in his honor.
Many of the city’s co-named streets are named after first responders. More often than not it is one of the more than 400 men and women who died on 9/11.
Captain William Thompson was 51 when he disappeared in the World Trade Center’s South Tower. He served for 27 years and trained incoming officers. He was survived by his mother and two sons. He was remembered for never taking the elevator at work, even after weekly runs with cadets (who were not permitted to take the stairs, either).
Sergeant Thomas Jurgens was 26 when he left his post at the courthouse for the World Trade Center. Jurgens had been a court officer for three years and was in the Army Reserve. He had opted to become a court officer over a police officer because the position appeared safer.
Jurgens and Thompson are both honored with their co-streets on Lafayette Street, in front of the New York County Family Court building. Jurgens’s Corner is located on the corner of Leonard Street, while Thompson’s Corner is on Franklin Street.
The third court officer is Sergeant Mitchel Scott Wallace. (The city frequently misspells his first name as “Mitchell.”) Wallace is honored with the Mitchel Wallace Triangle in Bayside, Queens, where he resided. Wallace was 34 when he died, and had recently moved from family court to Supreme Court. He was survived by his fiancée, who had been “dragged” to the hospital three years earlier while exhibiting signs of a stroke. In 2000, Wallace performed CPR for 25 minutes on a man on the Long Island Railroad who was suffering a cardiac event. Wallace received an award for heroism for his lifesaving efforts.
The Court Officers Academy is also named after the three men.
Court Officer Lieutenant Theodore “Teddy” Leoutsakos, died from pancreatic cancer related to his experience as a Ground Zero first responder in 2015. Leoutsakos served as an officer of the court for 24 years. A corner in Astoria, located at 29th Street and 21st Avenue, is co-named Theodore Leoutsakos Way in his honor. Leoutsakos lived nearby. He was survived by a wife and three daughters.
There are a number of memorials related to the September 11, 2001 attacks. See Monday’s post about The Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance for more about remembering New York City’s first responders.
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