TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- John Perry was not a conventional cop.
He was a lawyer, a civil libertarian and an aspiring actor. He spoke fluent French and Spanish, fed the homeless and always ``followed his own destiny,'' said his mother, Patricia Perry.
On the morning of Sept. 11, Perry went to Police Headquarters in lower Manhattan to sign retirement papers. At 38, he wanted to join a law firm.
Destiny had other plans.
While downtown, the first airliner slammed into the World Trade Center. Perry rushed the few blocks to the site and saw Capt. Timothy Pearson, an old friend.
``Cap, what can I do?'' he asked Pearson. ``I want to help.''
Perry become the only off-duty officer to disappear into the ruins. Most of his colleagues were trained to respond to disaster. Not Perry: He was an accidental hero, a patrol officer on a vacation day who had a chance encounter with terrorism _ and dove in.
``Of course, he would do that,'' his mother said. ``He always wanted to be involved.''
A native of Long Island, Perry first pursued a career in law while dreaming of law enforcement.
``I tried to teach him to avoid guns,'' Patricia Perry said of the middle of her three children. ``I failed utterly.''
In 1993, the New York University Law School graduate left his small immigration law practice and joined the nation's largest police department. He ended up working in the department's legal division, prosecuting officers accused of wrongdoing and, as always, speaking his mind.
``John was for the underdog,'' said Pearson, who met Perry in the legal department. ``He said, 'If you expect me to prosecute this case, I'm going to give the cop a fair shake. I'm not going to distinguish between a cop and a boss.'''
The tall and lanky Perry, who lived in Manhattan, had a passion for learning new languages and world travel. He stayed fit with long-distance swimming and running.
He also was active in the Libertarian Party and campaigned for Norman Siegel, the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union running for public advocate.
Siegel remembers his friend driving a 1968 Buick to campaign stops, and having ``an insatiable desire to question everything. ... He was truly a renaissance man.''
While working as a street cop early in his career, Perry mixed with film crews and soon found work as an extra. His credits included the role of ``NYPD Dog Handler No. 1'' in ``Die Hard III,'' a prison guard in Woody Allen's ``Deconstructing Harry'' and a mourner at an officer's funeral in an upcoming episode of ``NYPD Blue.''
Perry recently took a leave of absence in hopes of becoming a relief worker in the Bosnia, a plan that fell through. When he came back to the force, he was reassigned to uniformed patrol in the Bronx.
On Sept. 11, primary day in New York City, Perry stopped at Siegel's Manhattan campaign office before heading to Police Headquarters, where officials say he filed paperwork that would make official a decision to retire and join a law firm.
He was next spotted at the trade center.
He and Pearson joined other officers evacuating victims from the second-floor mezzanine of the north tower. As they were lifting up a woman who was starting to pass out, the south tower collapsed.
Amid a tornado of debris, shattered glass and dark smoke, Pearson lost track of Perry. The captain followed a faint beam of light to safety. He assumed he would hear Perry's voice by cell phone saying he had done the same.
``I got a little annoyed, to tell you the truth'' he said. ``Here we had this near-death experience and John didn't call me.''
Now, with hope of seeing Perry again gone, Pearson asks himself each night, ``How come I made it out and John didn't?''
Siegel marvels that Perry ``didn't just process his (retirement) papers and go home. That's what makes him a hero.''
Perry's family agrees, in a way.
``We're proud of what he did,'' his mother said, ``and we're mad at him for doing it. ... We're devastated.''
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