My worst #NewYearsEve was spent as a young news field producer in 1983 when #FALN, a Puerto Rican terrorist group was reportedly responsible for a series of bombings on New Year's Eve that rocked four government buildings in #NYC and seriously injured three police officers.
These blasts also struck #NYPD Police Headquarters, two Federal buildings, and the Brooklyn Courthouse during a 90-minute reign of terror.
Videographer Eric Kunky and I recorded the scene when the explosion severed the leg of a police officer and injured two bomb squad detectives. The 12-year NYPD veteran, who is married with one daughter was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where surgeons attempted without success to reattach the leg with microsurgery. Festivities went on as planned and those who were in Times Square apparently did not find out till they went home.
Since surfacing in 1974, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings, including 30 in New York and others in Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. In addition to six deaths, they caused scores of injuries and more than $3.5 million in damage. The most devastating blast killed four persons and injured 60 others at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan in 1975.
A night I'll never ever forget. I was happy to go home to my family in the morning.