KEY NOTES: The white car has moved on. Lloyd has taken his jacket out of the car and is just waiting. You can see small debris and leaves on the road.

When the police finally did show up they told Lloyd to get out of there because there was another plane coming in. They made him walk out and didn't even offer him a ride. He walked clear up to Columbia/Pike to where they had the "road blocked off" and called his daughter. I asked him if the police or the FBI contacted him later and he said, "the last policeman I to talked was the one that made me leave". This still frame from the video shows the piece that was removed from the windshield.

The next day he called and they had impounded his car. They told him it would be $80 to get it back (he had a couple of things to say about that). Then somebody helped him get it back with no charge but he had to call a friend to tow it. The friend towed it to Lloyd's house. Lloyd said it wouldn't start the day before and the guy told him to open the trunk. The guy "flipped a switch" and they started the car. Lloyd said it was the fuel pump switch.

I had never heard of this myself so I looked into it. The Lincoln-Mercury has a inertia fuel shutoff switch that shuts off fuel to the engine with an impact. In some of the troubleshooting guides I read it can trigger on a bumpy road or a pothole in some cases. Apparently the piece of the pole hit hard enough in the back seat to trigger that switch.

My conclusion is that through photos we can confirm Lloyd's statements like the van, the white car and the piece of the pole he moved "off the road". That section of the pole to go into the windshield was relatively small. It speared in from above and that was why only the window was broken. Taken in its full context Lloyd's story is comprehensive and verifiable. I have no reason to doubt what he saw.

Lloyd's Survivor's' Fund story is posted below. It has a couple minor variations but is consistent with the interview he did with me.

Lloyd, Survivors' Fund Project Survivor Story

Lloyd still keeps a torn dollar bill signed by a stranger and dated September 11, 2001. It marks a day he has struggled to survive for two years. But Lloyd’s story is different from most other Survivor’s Fund clients. His life and livelihood was changed by the path of Flight 77 before it hit the Pentagon.

Lloyd, 69, began the morning of September 11, 2001 like most days, driving his taxi cab. A passenger in Rosslyn told him what had happened at the World Trade Center so he turned on his radio and headed home. As he approached the Navy Annex, he saw a plane flying dangerously low overhead. Simultaneously, the plane struck a light pole and the pole came crashing down onto the front of Lloyd’s taxi cab, destroying the windshield in front of his eyes. Glass was everywhere as he tried to stop the car. Another car stopped and the driver helped move the heavy pole off Lloyd’s car. As they were moving the pole, they heard a big boom and turned to see an explosion. The light pole fell on Lloyd and he struggled to get up from underneath, wondering what had happened.

Police started to arrive on the scene and forced Lloyd to move. They urged the bystanders to leave the area in case there was another explosion. Lloyd was forced to abandon his car in the middle of the street to begin the long walk home. As he made his way on foot up Route 395, he met a man who had been working at the Pentagon. Walking side by side they found a dollar bill lying in the road. They picked it up, tore it in half, each signed one half and traded with each other. Parting ways each took half of a torn dollar with a stranger’s name on it. Lloyd still keeps this tangible reminder of his experience on 9/11.

Lloyd says the hardest part of his journey since 9/11 has been trying to survive without money. He realized once he got home the morning of September 11th that he would not be able to work without his car—it is his livelihood. He was without a vehicle for two months until he purchased a used car with the help of American Red Cross funds. They were the only people to come to his aid in the beginning until his daughter came across the Survivor’s Fund. With the help of his case manager and financial support from the Fund, he has been able to afford his monthly expenses, something he struggled with after 9/11. “I’m not accustomed to people helping me,” he says. “I’m amazed that there are people there just to do that.”

Lloyd tends to keep his feelings to himself. He is quiet, respectful and humble when speaking of his experiences. When asked if it helps him to talk about September 11th, he says, “I don’t know. There are things I’d like to forget.” The remnants of September 11, the reminders are all over for him but he concludes, “surviving hasn’t been easy, but it can be done.” Original Story