# Late 9/11 Officer's Handcuffs Continue Use



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*AP Online*
_via NewsEdge Corporation_

NEW YORK_The handcuffs began as standard-issue gear for Port Authority police officer Donald McIntyre, who was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001.

When the cuffs were discovered in the rubble of the World Trade Center, they became a keepsake for his widow.

By the time McIntyre's co-worker began slapping the same handcuffs on terrorist suspects four years ago, the gear that once hung from McIntyre's belt took on an almost mystical caste.

"It became a spiritual thing," said Thomas McHale, a detective with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who took the handcuffs to Afghanistan while chasing terrorism suspects. "I thought, 'You're helping us down here, Donnie.'"

On Thursday, McHale received a standing ovation when he was awarded the Port Authority's Medal of Honor, presented to those who demonstrate extraordinary bravery in the face of possible death. McHale got the award for the two months he spent in Pakistan and Afghanistan in early 2002, working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The cuffs, engraved with the name "Mac," were collected from McIntyre's widow before McHale headed overseas. By the time he returned, they had been placed on about 70 suspected al-Qaida and Taliban supporters.

Abu Zubaydah, one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants, was the highest-profile arrestee to wear the cuffs. The cuffs were placed on suspects after their arrests or during interrogations.

"Before we'd hit al-Qaida, we'd hold the cuffs and say, 'OK, this is for Mac,'" McHale said. "Then we'd kick the doors in."

During his time overseas, McHale was involved in shutting down a biological weapons lab in Afghanistan, responding to a deadly bomb attack on a church in Pakistan and identifying a number of al-Qaida safehouses.

He told authorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan about the officer's widow, Jeannine, and her daughter, Lauren, who was born after McIntyre's death.

"You could see the compassion in these guys' eyes," said McHale, who is from Middlesex County, N.J. "Once they'd seen Jeannine with the newborn, they acted as if they knew Donnie McIntyre personally."

McIntyre of New City, N.Y., was one of 37 Port Authority police officers killed when the twin towers collapsed. He was 38.

<<AP Online -- 05/22/06>>


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