Posted on 02/26/2003 9:40:18 AM PST by TLBSHOW
Band Arrives to Testify on R.I. Club Fire
PROVIDENCE, R.I. Feb. 26 — Grief-stricken friends and relatives gathered Wednesday to say goodbye to loved ones who perished in the Station nightclub, while members of the rock band Great White arrived to testify before a grand jury.
About 500 people went to a West Warwick funeral Mass for Carlos L. Pimental, 38, but the priest said that relatives asked that the media not report any details of the service.
A grand jury was to begin hearing testimony Wednesday into the blaze that killed 97 people at the West Warwick club last week. Surviving members of Great White arrived in the morning at a National Guard training center in East Greenwich, where the grand jury is sitting. The proceedings are closed to the public.
Flames swept through the West Warwick nightclub within minutes late Thursday after the band set off a pyrotechnic display. Great White guitarist Ty Longley was among those killed.
"We're just devastated by the loss. It's a devastating situation," bass player David Filice said after arriving at the airport in Warwick late Tuesday. He would not comment on the investigation.
An attorney for one of the club's owners said unspecified documents related to the investigation will be turned over Wednesday to the attorney general's office.
"I can't really get into specifics about what's in these documents, but this is information that we've been able to compile that we believe will certainly be of assistance in the investigation," former Rhode Island Attorney General Jeffrey Pine, who represents club co-owner Jeffrey Derderian, told The Associated Press.
Also Wednesday, Paul Vanner, the stage manager and sound engineer at The Station, told a news conference that Great White pyrotechnics lasted longer than he was used to seeing from other bands. While most last a second or so in flashing their sparkles across the stage, this show of sparks lasted far longer.
"I've never seen it that big and that long. It was about 20 seconds," Vanner said.
He said he expressed concerns about the safety of pyrotechnics to club co-owner Michael Derderian, Jeffrey's brother, about three months ago, and he "seemed to take it to heart."
He said he had seen about a dozen shows that used pyrotechnics including about eight since he first noticed foam soundproofing added at The Station about 18 months ago.
He said in each of those shows he was forewarned that the special effects would be used. However, he said he was given no advance notice before the Great White show.
Vanner said he has not received a subpoena to testify.
The band has said it received approval to use the special effects, but the owners of the club, the Station, have denied giving permission.
Legal experts and fire investigators said the Derderians and members of the band could be indicted on such state charges as involuntary manslaughter or second-degree murder. And a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Providence says federal charges haven't been ruled out.
"It is pretty obvious that there was some joint responsibility. Maybe the issue is not which one to charge, but what to charge both with," said Donald Bliss, state fire marshal for New Hampshire and the president of the National Association of State Fire Marshals.
Nearly a week after the blaze, recovery teams with search dogs returned to the charred ruins of the nightclub Tuesday to look for bodies that may have been missed. Gov. Don Carcieri said there was a discrepancy between the number of people reported missing and the number of victims found. So far, 93 of the 97 bodies have been identified.
More than 180 people were also injured in the fire; about 60 of them were still in hospitals, including 39 in critical condition.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch has said he does not believe the Derderians have cooperated with investigators, but spokesman Mike Healey said Tuesday, "We're not pitting the band against the Derderians."
The attorney general's office indicated that Mary Jo Carolan, the president of Triton Limited Realty Partnership, would be subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, an attorney for the realty group said. Triton leased the nightclub to the Derderians.
Attorney Edward Ryan Jr., who represented a homeless man charged with manslaughter in a 1999 fire that killed six Worcester, Mass., firefighters, said the grand jury could find the club owners and the band committed "affirmative acts" that caused the deaths the band by using pyrotechnics without a permit, and the Derderians by failing to make sure no fire hazards were present.
Ryan cited reports that pyrotechnics had been used in the club by other bands.
"If they had 70 shows in the last three years and 35 of those involved pyrotechnics of some sort, that leads to a fair inference that they knew of or should have known what was going on in their club," Ryan said.
"But clearly, whoever set up that display the band is a potential target, whether they had permission or not."
Certainly involuntary manslaughter if it's warranted, but I think 2nd degree murder is way overboard.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.