9/11 Motorcycle Run Honors Young Queens Medic Who Died In Towers

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS -- Richard Allen Pearlman was just an 18-year-old office clerk running errands downtown when he watched in horror as a plane slammed into the World Trade Center.

Pearlman, a Youth Member of the Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps, was a month away from starting his EMT training, but he didn't think twice before racing to the Twin Towers to help. He was photographed doing just that before his own death when the towers collapsed.

Now, 17 years later, thousands of motorcyclists will ride in Pearlman's honor from Queens to the World Trade Center during the Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps' third annual "9/11 Run For Richie" on Sunday.

"He was 18 years old and he sacrificed his life running toward the danger to help people," FHVAC event coordinator Paul Marcel told Patch. "I don't know any other kid his age today who would do that."

The police-escorted motorcycle run will kick off at the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park at 1 p.m. and end 14 miles away at Ground Zero. Marcel, an 11-year FHVAC member who dreamt up the run, said this year's event is slated to see the largest turnout yet.

He expects anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 motorcyclists to participate alongside numerous police, fire and EMS vehicles.

"In the first ride alone we had almost 800 people attend," Marcel said. "It was so successful that we did it again last year, and over 1,500 motorcyclist showed up."

Having joined the FHVAC years after 9/11, Marcel never crossed paths with Pearlman. He didn't have to. The teen boy's reputation as an eager volunteer medic with the organization preceded him.

"He started at just 14 years old, and he used to take two buses from his home in Howard Beach to Forest Hills as often as he could for emergency services training," Marcel said.

Pearlman was all set to start emergency medical technician classes that October, but he'd never get the chance. Newspaper photos of the 18-year-old helping shocked, injured New Yorkers out of the Twin Towers would be all his family had left of Pearlman until his body was found in the rubble months later.

Marcel, a member of the NYC Punishers Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, said the idea to honor Pearlman and other 9/11 victims with a motorcycle run came to him in a dream.

"I literally ran to the Ambulance Corps office at 1 a.m. to talk to the (FHVAC) president," he said.

"He looks at me and says, 'You're f-----g crazy,' then stopped and said, 'You know what, we just might be able to make it happen.'"

With help from his fellow Volunteer Ambulance Corps volunteers and motorcycle club members, the once far-fetched idea began to take shape, turning into an event that now draws people from all walks of life.

Riders can register online to be in the run for $35 - or $40 at the door - and passengers can participate for free. All proceeds go toward the Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Day-of registration kicks off at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, and the first 411 to sign up will receive a challenge coin in memory of all the police, firefighters and EMS workers who died in 9/11.

If the motorcycle run serves one purpose, Marcel hopes it's that: To remember those people, like Pearlman, who had their lives cut short in one of the nation's greatest tragedies.

"I want people to understand that this was within our decade, because people are forgetting," he said. "There are youth turning into adults that don't even know what it was.

"We have to recognize everyone who served in every capacity that day, and never forget."

Lead photo courtesy of Paul Marcel/Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps