Michael Moses Ward speaks to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Philadelphia.
Posted on 09/26/2013 5:21:36 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Michael Ward, one of only two survivors of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, died on Friday.
Ward, who was known as "Birdie Africa," became an icon of the disaster. It happened on May 13, 1985, when police had an armed confrontation with the . Police were intent on removing the members from their fortified compound and as the day wore on, after thousands of rounds of ammunition were fired, police dropped a bomb from a helicopter on the group's house in West Philadelphia.
The explosives started a fire that destroyed 61 row houses and killed 11 people, including five children. Ward, who was 13 at the time, came to national prominence when he ran naked out of the burning compound, his body covered in second- and third-degree burns.
that Ward, 41, was found unconscious in a hot tub aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean on Friday.
Initial signs, the Brevard County, Fla., Medical Examiner's office told WHYY, "indicated an accidental drowning, but the office will await the return of toxicology tests before determining a cause of death."
In its obituary of Ward, that the bombing left Ward "with lifelong burn scars on his abdomen, arms and face, and Philadelphia with a global reputation as the city that bombed its own people."
Michael Moses Ward speaks to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Philadelphia.
And just remember: it's the Republicans who are "terrorists".
Probably one of the top events over the past fifty years in the US, and should have been made into a movie. Cops from all over the city would converge on the block area, half of them were noted there just as observing the mess....the other half firing away into the mess. At the end....no one knows much of nothing....a whole section of the city is burned away. Thousands stand there in shock at the collapse of authority and leadership. And you have these nutcases that the media suddenly wakes up and says....well, yeah, they were a bit crazy.
It ought to be a movie.
Could not remember that crisis - had to look it up here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4651126
I remember this fiasco. The MOVE folks were loons but the heavy handed treatment was out of control.
I wonder if this happened today, would it be done via drone? The philly event was from a helicopter if I recollect correctly.
I just happened to be in town that day and watched it unfold.
If the mayor had been white... well, we'd still be hearing about the incident every day.
I know this was before CNN but I don’t remember it either.
Yes he was, and that’s what made it so funny when the so called “black leader”, Sharpton maybe, tried to make the claim he was Reagan’s puppet.
The news media had their reports waiting at the airport for the so called black leader to arrive, when he did arrive he made the statement to the effect the White Republican Mayor was killing black people. When it was pointed out to the so called black leader the Mayor was a black democrat, the so called black leader said he was Reagan’s puppet.
The news media took the cameras off of him and that was the last you heard from the so called black leader on this.
It was in all the national newspapers, front page with big photos of burning buildings
RIP.
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