Bank robber asked troopers to help ease weight of bomb
On video, Brian Wells can be heard pleading with state troopers to help him moments before a bomb around his neck detonated. (PHOTO FROM VIDEOS/Courtesy WJET-TV)
By Jule Gardner
In the last minutes of Brian Wells' life, he asked state troopers to uncuff him so he could at least lift up the weight of the bomb clamped tightly around him.
"It's killing my neck," he is heard saying about five minutes before the bomb exploded on upper Peach Street, killing him.
A detailed viewing of the video recorded by WJET-TV the day Wells told police he was forced to wear the bomb and rob a bank revealed much of what the pizza deliveryman had to say before his death.
The task force investigating the bizarre crime agreed, requesting copies of all of WJET-TV's tapes relating to the incident. The request arrived in the form of an order issued this week by the criminal division of the Erie County Court of Common Pleas.
Much of the discernible audio was captured by a cameraman's shotgun microphone, attached to his camera as he zoomed in on Brian Wells, 46, from across Peach Street.
WJET-TV agreed to let the Erie Times-News view its footage and transcribe what Wells can be heard saying.
Some of Wells' words can be heard clearly and have been aired numerous times since the Aug. 28 bombing, which occurred in a parking lot near the recently robbed PNC Bank branch in the Summit Town Centre. Some of what Wells said is less clear and has not yet been released, including his complaint about neck pain.
Five minutes and 23 seconds before the explosion, in a portion of the tapes in which the audio is slightly muddy, Wells can be heard saying "bomb," something about "20 minutes" and the words "until (he or we) can get the money."
He then said to the troopers, "Maybe if you can get the keys ..." and, "I'm not lying."
Wells then said quite clearly, "Can you at least take these freakin' handcuffs off? So I can hold this thing up? It's killing my neck."
He is also heard saying, "I didn't do it," or, "I didn't do anything."
In the tapes, Wells, seated on the pavement behind his Geo Metro compact car, fidgets and appears to be attempting to lift the bomb up with his legs. He bends his legs in front of him and then switches to an Indian-style position. He appears to be wearing at least two T-shirts. The outer one, which says "GUESS jeans," had been cut by officers after Wells told them he had a bomb strapped underneath it, according to a state police spokesman.
The footage with the muddy audio lasts 2 minutes and 22 seconds. In it, Wells is seen saying more to the troopers than can be heard.
At one point, according to an investigator, Wells asked for a cigarette, which he did not receive. That request was not on tape.
In dramatic footage, WJET-TV captured 25 seconds of video in which Wells' voice is clear. An edited version of that tape, which ends 2 minutes and 36 seconds before the blast, has aired on national TV and in several other countries.
In it, Wells says:
"Why is it nobody's trying to get this thing off me?"
"I don't have a lot of time."
"He pulled a key out and started a timer. I heard the thing ticking when he did it."
"It's gonna go off."
"I'm not lying." After this statement, Wells looks at the troopers and shakes his head somewhat slowly from side-to-side.
The last thing Wells is recorded as saying is, "Did you call my boss?"
A trooper can be heard saying "yes we did... ." It's the only recorded response heard from troopers, although a spokesman said there may have been more dialogue.
The troopers closest to Wells were interviewed at the scene and later by investigators. "I believe there were more things said, but what that was I'm not sure about at this time," Cpl. Mark Zaleski, spokesman for Troop E of the state police, said Thursday night.
"They had moved away from him — a distance away — and if there was more dialogue, it comes down to whether or not they heard him," said Zaleski. He stressed the troopers weren't interviewing Wells; they were trying to keep a lid on a dangerous situation.
"Their concern is for the safety of a growing number of people around them and for their own safety," he said.
Troopers stood behind their cars, facing Wells with their guns drawn as he tried to talk to them. Wells did not, at any point, shout to the troopers.
On the tapes, just before the bomb explodes, Wells becomes increasingly more agitated. He uses his legs to push himself backward on the pavement.
WJET-TV caught the explosion from two angles — straight on, which was shot from across the street, and a side view, shot from below a grassy incline.
In both, parts of the bomb or shrapnel, can be seen exploding outward as Wells' upper body violently hits the pavement and smoke rises above him. An officer can be seen peering over Wells' body and then slowly backing away.
Other troopers are heard yelling there may be a "secondary blast" and shouting to people to back up.
The Erie Bomb Squad, which did not get the official call to respond until 3:01 p.m., arrived from downtown Erie three minutes after the blast, recorded at 3:18 p.m.
Officers from the squad were the first to approach Wells. No one else was authorized to examine the body because of the possible presence of another bomb.
Wells died as a result of a postcard-size injury to his chest and lungs, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Korac Timon.
Timon said Wells was immediately knocked unconscious. Timon and others have said Wells may have lived "a minute or two" after the blast. His body was not removed from the parking lot until 4:30 a.m. the next morning.