Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

This sleeping, half-blind guard was 1WTC 1st line of defense.

An aging, half-blind security guard assigned as the first line of defense inside the Freedom Tower was caught sleeping on the job.
A shocking cellphone photo obtained by The Post shows Abdul Basher, 65, stretched out nearly horizontal in his chair in the skyscraper’s south lobby, where he was the only guard assigned to protect the ground floor of the top US terror target.
Sources said a Port Authority worker spotted Basher catching some z’s around 2:45 a.m. Saturday, almost six days to the hour after a teenage daredevil slipped past another snoozing guard on the 104th floor on his way to the tower’s iconic spire.
Basher, who was fired on the spot, admitted to The Post on Wednesday that he was the absolute wrong person for the job because he suffers from a nerve condition and can’t open his left eye, while the vision in his right is “hazy.”
“Sometimes I cannot recognize people, stairs,” the Queens resident said. “That post was so hard to cover for me. It was very, very stressful. I could barely see half of the lobby.”

Security at the Freedom Tower has been called into question after a pair of high-profile breaches, including this Sept. 30 BASE jump from the skyscraper’s spire, which the parachutists recorded on video.
Basher — a shop steward for the 32BJ union who ironically was named its “Security Officer of the Year” for 2013 — also said he was “just getting ready to go on disability.”
His stunning admissions followed President Obama’s statement on Tuesday that his greatest fear was “the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan.”
Basher also claimed that he wasn’t really conked out.
“To my knowledge, actually I was not sleeping. I was mistaken to be sleeping. I was exercising my eyes,” he said.
The Port Authority, which owns the site, referred all questions to the Durst Organization, which supplies the guards inside 1 World Trade Center as part of a joint venture with the PA.
But a high-ranking insider at the agency called the incident “troubling” and said Durst execs would be called on the carpet.
Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz confirmed that Basher “was terminated on the spot after he was found sleeping on the job,” but wouldn’t say if he had to be physically roused from slumber.
Barowitz also refused to specify what measures, if any, would be taken to prevent future security screw-ups.

In addition to last week’s trespassing arrest of New Jersey thrill-seeker Justin Casquejo, 16, cops on Monday busted three BASE jumpers who admitted parachuting from the building Sept. 30.
Construction workers at Ground Zero were outraged when shown the photo of Basher with his head tilted back and his eyes covered with dark glasses.
“There’s our hard-working security right there … What a joke,” one said.
Another fumed that guards asleep on the job were only part of the problem.
“They play Candy Crush, they even have the Hulu to keep themselves entertained,” the hardhat said.
“It’s f–king ridiculous.”



Half blind?

NY Post

Message edited 3/26/2014 7:53:35 PM.

Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

Yeah. I'm not shocked at all. I work in construction and the security guards are worthless.

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

We have security guards at work too and I don't consider them real security.

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

Are most of the jobs minimum wage jobs?

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

I don't know how much they pay but I would think they would be around entry level. Don't quote me but I also work for the largest health system in the area and I'm pretty sure they are employed from an outside provider from conversations I have had with coworkers. Definitely could explain the difference in morale, at least for where I work.


They are nice and can be helpful when asked but I'm calling 911 if I have any real security issues.

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

I don't give a fk how much money they get paid. The answer is they get enough money to come to work each day so there is no fkn Excuse why he or anyone should be SLeEPINg on the job! I am so angry!

(Not yelling at any of you lol)

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

Lovely

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC

He was "exercising his eyes". FOR REAL?

What a joke.

Re: Another security guard caught sleeping on the job at WTC