September 16, 2026 · Ormond Beach Buzz

'I Just Saw So Much Humanity': A Local Officer's Memories of 9/11, 25 Years Later

By Staff report

Ormond Beach Police Community Outreach Officer Marc Pedevillano standing in front of an Ormond Beach Police Department backdrop. — Photo courtesy of the Ormond Beach Police Department

Sept. 11, 2001, was supposed to be Marc Pedevillano's day off. Twenty-five years later, the Ormond Beach police officer is still telling the story of what he saw at Ground Zero — and the generosity that surrounded it.

The short version
Pedevillano was a six-year NYPD officer living in Rockland County on Sept. 11, 2001.
He worked perimeter security at Ground Zero in the weeks that followed.
He retired from the NYPD in 2015 and joined the Ormond Beach Police Department in 2021 as Community Outreach Officer.
Ormond Beach firefighters held an honor climb this month marking the 25th anniversary.

Sept. 11, 2001, was supposed to be a day off for Marc Pedevillano. He'd been with the New York Police Department for six years and lived about 30 miles north of the city in Rockland County. Twenty-five years later, now an officer with the Ormond Beach Police Department, Pedevillano is still telling the story, because he wants people to remember.

'I Had to Get Into the City'

When the towers fell, Pedevillano didn't stay home. He made his way into the city and spent the following weeks working perimeter security at Ground Zero, a role that put him at the edges of one of the most devastating scenes in American history, but also, he says, at the edges of something else: an outpouring of generosity from people who had no official role to play but showed up anyway.

He remembers New Jersey state troopers driving around the city on a cold October night, handing out hot soup and hot chocolate to officers working the site. He remembers a group from New Orleans who cooked jambalaya to make sure first responders were fed. He remembers McDonald's locations that stayed open 24 hours a day just to help feed the people working around the clock.

"They couldn't perform security at the site," Pedevillano said of these volunteers. "They couldn't go out and dig in the piles, but this is what they could do. This was their contribution, and as small as they might have thought it was, it meant everything to me."

A Message He Still Carries

Pedevillano retired from the NYPD in 2015 and later moved to Ormond Beach, joining the local police department in 2021. He currently serves as the department's Community Outreach Officer, a role that keeps him connected to the same kind of public-facing work that shaped his experience in the aftermath of 9/11.

Twenty-five years on, his message to people who didn't live through that day is less about the horror of it and more about what he witnessed in its wake.

"I just want people to really understand what happened that day," Pedevillano said. "Understand the sacrifices that people made, and also understand that even at probably one of our very worst times, I just saw so much humanity."

Marking the Anniversary Locally

Pedevillano's story was shared as Ormond Beach marked the 25th anniversary of the attacks earlier this month. Ormond Beach firefighters held an honor climb in commemoration, joined by Pedevillano, his wife Zobe, City Commissioner Kristin Deaton, and Deputy Mayor Lori Tolland, among others.

Photos Zobe took in the days following the attacks are now displayed on a bulletin board inside the Ormond Beach Police Department, a small, permanent reminder inside the building of what Pedevillano witnessed and carried with him into his second career, in a city more than a thousand miles from where it happened.

Sources

Reported by Staff report for Ormond Beach Buzz. Candidate filings, precinct details and voting information come from the City of Ormond Beach.

Official city information