Most of the people who fell, jumped, or were swept from the building died instantly. But not all. Amid smoking debris on the plaza, Ernest Armstead, an FDNY emergency medical specialist, found a well-dressed woman in her fifties, with brown hair and tasteful earrings, who’d suffered catastrophic injuries that left only her head and right torso intact. Somehow, she remained conscious. He hung a black triage tag around her neck, to signify to other responders that she was beyond help. “I am not dead,” the woman insisted. “Call my daughter. I am not dead.” Shocked, Armstead stammered, “Ma’am,
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