9/11 Plane Debris Found in Lower Manhattan - Metropolis - WSJ

By WSJ Staff

A piece of landing gear from one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center has been discovered this week wedged behind a building in Lower Manhattan, police said Friday.

The part, which police believe came from one of the two commercial airliners destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, was discovered Wednesday by surveyors inspecting the rear of 51 Park Pl., several blocks from ground zero. The surveyors called 911 to report the debris with a “clearly visible Boeing identification number,” the New York Police Department said in a statement.

Photos released by police show rusted machinery and other debris wedged between the buildings. A police official described the alley where the debris was found is about as wide as a person.

Police are  treating the area between 51 Park Pl. and the building behind it, 50 Murray St., as a crime scene until the medical examiner’s office evaluates the area. Authorities will then decide whether to sift the soil “for possible human remains,” according to the statement.

The Park Place building attracted controversy several years ago when critics protested the plan to build an Islamic cultural center on the site.