David Handschuh was anxiously awaiting the cable guy.

No, he didn't win money, nor a free cable subscription. He just, in his words, "won the power ball of life."

He survived the second terrorist explosion at the World Trade Center.

Now he needs cable, his lifeline to the world.

For over 15 years, Handschuh has cruised the streets of New York like a modern-day Weegee. Like the late Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, Handschuh has a knack for being quick to the scene of the dramatic event. This time it nearly cost his life.

Handschuh was outside the first tower, shooting for The New York Daily News, when terrorists slammed a second airliner into the other Trade Center tower. He captured the explosion. Seconds later the debris nailed him, striking with such force it broke his leg, dislocated his knee and caused other injuries.

He'd been listening to the scanner in his car. It was the day of the mayoral primary, and he wasn't scheduled to be on duty for the Daily News until 5 p.m. But after hearing a second call about an explosion and fire, he cruised downtown. Besides, it was the first morning of the photojournalism class he teaches at NYU and he figured it might produce a good story to tell his students.

Not for the first time, Handschuh got to the scene before many of the emergency crews. The top of the first tower was engulfed. Rescue workers were dashing frantically around. Handschuh found himself directing them.

"This was like nothing that I had ever experienced," he said Thursday. "The sounds were very eerie: glass breaking, people silently running, cars burning, and occasionally a body hitting the pavement -- a sound that I will never forget."

Suddenly there was another explosion. Looking up to focus, Handschuh noted what a clear blue day it was. He instinctively snapped the powerful explosion. He remembers thinking, "This was an act of deliberate terrorism." Then, as something slammed into his leg, he was down. Rescue workers pulled him to safety just before more debris rained on the spot where he had fallen.

On Wednesday morning, Handschuh sent an email to family and colleagues:

Photo by Todd Maisel/New York Daily News

From: David Handschuh
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 8:31 AM
Subject: Re: Glad that you are alive...

i am the luckiest man in the world

i have a badly fractured leg and some other injuries from collapse but i won the lottery today i am alive and for awhile yesterday i did not think that would be the case

hug everyone u love

life is too short
dh

Lucky, indeed. Clyde Mueller, NPPA president, said "I cannot find the words to describe the darkness that I felt when I heard the stories and saw the images of the destruction and loss of life that occurred today."

He also is a Poynter Ethics Fellow -- an exemplar among photojournalists. Here is how he described his experience in response to questions:

Where were you and what happened [Tuesday]?

I wasn't scheduled to work at the Daily News until five o'clock for election primary night, so I was headed to NYU, where I am an adjunct professor, to teach my grad level photojournalism class. I was listening on my scanner and saw this massive column of smoke. Then heard them send every piece of emergency apparatus, saying that a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. I hightailed it down there. I was at 14th street about a mile and a half away. I followed a fire truck there down the wrong lane of traffic and parked literally on the corner of the World Trade Center.

In one the truck that passed by me, two guys [firefighters] waved at me, and the sad thing is that they are buried there.

Photo by Todd Maisel/New York Daily News

What time was that?

It was probably about 8:52 to 8:55. I was thinking, maybe we were going to be lucky since many don't start work until 9:00. It was all so strange, the sky was so blue and things seemed so calm just minutes before. And then I lost all track of time.

What else were you thinking at that point?

Photo by JONATHAN WILSON/ Via KRT

David Handschuh has surgery on Monday to place a rod in his leg at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ. According to his wife, Staci, "his badly injured knee is being examined today.

This whole Weegee thing is bizarre, but I knew that this was a big story, and my gut feeling was that this was unlike anything that I had been on. I worked the south and west sides of the tower and met up with fellow staffer, Todd Maisel. We took opposite ends of the building and I remember thinking that I had everything in my truck accept my hard hat.

What did this experience mean to you as a photojournalist?

I learned more about life, about what it means to be a human being. Life is truly very fragile. I am lucky to be here . . . Every moment is precious. Journalistically speaking, this reinforces the need for proper preparation and counseling. The folks that were not there will never be able to understand what we went through. The sound of people hitting the pavement is haunting. I was not able to see them, but I could hear them and the thought takes my breath away.