Christopher Amoroso was last seen heading into the North Tower of the World Trade Center after terrorists flew a plane into it on the morning of September 11, 2001.
Voices Center for ResilienceChristopher Amoroso died while saving lives as a Port Authority police officer.
Christopher Amoroso had been a Port Authority police officer for less than two years when he reported for work at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Amoroso, then 29 years old, said goodbye to his wife Jaime and young daughter Sophia Rose like he would on any other work day. But tragically, it would be the last time they saw him.
Amoroso was one of the first officers on the scene after two hijacked planes struck the Twin Towers in a coordinated terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. He was injured by falling debris but refused medical attention, and helped rescue people until the towers collapsed.
His final moments were captured by a photographer, who snapped a picture of Amoroso helping a woman to safety. After rescuing her, he ran back into the building to try and save others.
This is his story.
Who Was Christopher Charles Amoroso?
Voices Center for ResilienceChristopher Amoroso grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, with four brothers and two sisters.
Christopher Amoroso was born on June 1, 1972 in Rockville Center, New York. He grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, alongside his four brothers and two sisters.
After graduating from North Bergen High School in 1990, Amoroso attended St. John’s University in Queens, New York. After college, Amoroso worked for Consolidated Dairies as a route manager — but his dream was always to become a police officer.
According to Amoroso’s sister Jess, Amoroso failed the police test four times before passing it on the fifth try. He enrolled in the the Port Authority Police Academy in 1999 and graduated the following year.
Port Authority of New York and New JerseyChristopher Amoroso was so determined to be a police officer that he took the police exam five times.
Meanwhile, Amoroso was also building his family. He married his wife Jaime in November 1999, and the couple, along with their baby daughter Sophia Rose, lived in Huguenot on Staten Island. In his free time, Amoroso liked playing sports and watching the History Channel.
“He was the type of guy who wanted to make you laugh, make you feel the love, and always had a beer in hand. He was the type of guy everyone looked up to,” his sister Jess wrote for the Travis Manion Foundation.
The Heroism Of Christopher Amoroso On 9/11
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Christopher Amoroso was assigned to work at the World Trade Center. As the New York Daily News notes, he was working on rotation, and could have just as easily been assigned to Newark Airport. Instead, Amoroso said goodbye to his wife and daughter, and left.
“I remember he left and he said I’m working at the World Trade Center,” Amoroso’s wife Jaime recalled to NBC in 2021. She remembered that she told her husband to be careful. “He goes, ‘what’s going to happen?’”
TheMachineStops (Robert J. Fisch)/Wikimedia CommonsFlight 175 hitting the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
That morning, at 8:46 a.m., the 9/11 attacks began when American Airlines Flight 11 smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Then, at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower. Both aircrafts had been hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. A third hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was heading toward the Pentagon, and a fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, would crash in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers fought back against the terrorists.
But as the World Trade Center burned, first responders had no idea that the day would end with nearly 3,000 fatalities, including 400 of their own. They were focused on saving lives. And so was Christopher Amoroso.
Then 29 year old, Amoroso was trained in special tactics and fire control, important skills for the catastrophe unfolding at the World Trade Center. Though he was struck in the face by falling debris, he refused to get medical help, and instead led a number of people to safety from the lower levels of the towers. A New York Daily News photographer named Todd Maisel even captured a picture of Amoroso helping a woman away from the buildings.
Todd Maisel/NY Daily News ArchiveDespite being injured by debris, Christopher Amoroso continued rescuing people from the World Trade Center.
In his final moments, the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association reports that Amoroso collected oxygen packs and hard hats, and then headed back into the North Tower. Sadly, both of the towers soon collapsed: the South Tower at 9:59 a.m., and the North Tower at 10:28 a.m.
Christopher Amoroso died alongside hundreds of other first responders.
‘I’m Alive Because Of Him’
Christopher Amoroso’s name is etched into a number of 9/11 memorials across the country, and he’s survived by his family, his wife, and his daughter. Amoroso’s story was also featured as a part of The New York Times’ “Portraits of Grief” series that followed the Sept. 11 attacks.
In the piece, 19-month Sophia Rose tells her mother that she has “Daddy’s fingers” while taking a bath after Amoroso’s death. When Amoroso bathed Sophia Rose, he would wiggle his wrinkly fingers at her.
Voices Center for ResilienceAmoroso is remembered by his surviving family, including his daughter Sophia Rose and his wife Jaime
“The baby is too young to understand that her father, 29, a Port Authority police officer, died when he went back into the World Trade Center’s north tower after leading a group of people to safety. She will not remember the thousands of people, including hundreds of police officers, who spilled out of Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Staten Island for his memorial service,” The New York Times piece reported.
But there was also someone else who deeply mourned Christopher Amoroso: the woman from the photograph.
For decades, her identity was unknown. But 20 years after 9/11, she was identified as Suman Dhamija, an Indian woman who was working in the World Trade Center at the time.
“My mother has severe asthma so after running down the stairs of the 2nd tower and with all the debris and smoke in the air, she could not breathe,” her son wrote online. “Officer Amoroso helped lift her up and walk away from the towers. This photo was taken before the 2nd tower collapsed.”
Dhamija moved to India but never forgot how Amoroso saved her life.
“He said, ‘Ma’am, relax. We are here to help,’” Dhamija recalled to NBC. “I wish the best for his family, for his loved ones. If he wasn’t there, there is no way I could have made it.”
Voices Center for ResilienceChristopher Amoroso spent his last moments saving people on 9/11.
Dhamija, now a grandmother, often thought about Amoroso. “I always felt bad because I have lived my life, and he was still so young,” she said. “… He wasn’t scared, but I was scared.”
After reading about the life and death of 9/11 hero Christopher Amoroso, discover the sad story of Father Mychal Judge, the first confirmed victim of 9/11. Then, look through these photos of heartbreaking 9/11 artifacts.