Union County deputy carries memory of friends whose lives were lost in 9/11

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Twenty-five years ago, while many ran to escape from the devastation around the World Trade Center, others ran toward the danger. A former New York police officer, now a local deputy, showed Channel 9’s Gina Esposito his lasting tribute to the friends he lost.

Union County Deputy Chris Castrogiovanni was a 32-year-old New York City police officer when hijackers crashed planes into the Twin Towers.

“I would have rather chased the guy with a gun than been there with that debris hanging over the top of my head. I was just completely out of my element,” Castrogiovanni said.

He was there a day before, investigating a robbery, and was woken up by his wife on 9/11 to the attack on New York.

“Called my partner up and said, hey, you watching? What’s going on? I hung up the phone with him, and here comes second plane hits,” Castrogiovanni said.

Castrogiovanni says he rushed into the city.

“It was chaos,” Castrogiovanni said. “Both towers were down by then, so you just got on what they would call the bucket brigade. So they were trying to find trapped individuals.”

Three of his friends, all first responders, died that day: NYPD Det. Joe Vigiano, NYPD Sgt. Timothy Roy and NYFD Firefighter Chris Pickford.

He calls them the true heroes and showed us where their initials are tattooed on his arm. But he says even the survivors have scars.

“Since then, I’ve actually gotten cancer twice, both of them on my feet. I’ve had two friends die from the same cancer, because who really looks at their feet? Whatever we were standing in, apparently was contaminating our bodies without us knowing,” Castrogiovanni said.

Castrogiovanni’s message to you on 9/11 is this.

“It’s important to remember that people are willing to put their lives ahead of yours,” Castrogiovanni said. “Just don’t take life for granted. Your greatest commodity in this world is time.”

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Castrogiovanni plans to attend the town of Waxhaw’s 9/11 event on Friday.

It’s at the military wall of honor at 8 a.m.

He plans to light a candle for all his friends who died on or in the aftermath of 9/11.