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NEW YORK (CBS) ― More
than three years after the FDNY's "Black Sunday" in which two
firefighters died and four more were badly hurt at a fire in the
Bronx, the victims and their families are still waiting for justice.
The limp in firefighter Eugene Stokowski's walk only begins to tell
the story of what he and the others went through that freezing cold,
Sunday morning in the Bronx. A fire broke out where apartments had
been illegally subdivided, with walls someone put up that were not
supposed to be there, trapping six men.
Four were forced to jump from three stories up and another two from
four stories up. The two who fell from the higher floors, Lt. Chris
Meyran and firefighter John Bellew, were killed.
The Bronx district attorney indicted the company that owned the
building and three individuals for manslaughter. But there has been
no trial. The defendants keep getting delays. CBS 2's Pablo Guzman
met with the firefighters as they left the Bronx courthouse Tuesday
morning, after yet another postponement:
"The trial needs to happen. Four people are walking around out there
that are charged in this, like nothing ever happened," Stolowski
told CBS 2. "Two of our guys are not here anymore because of that."
Defense lawyers said the postponements are because one lawyer became
seriously ill. The firemen say another lawyer should have stepped
in. Firefighter Jeffrey Cool is one of the four who barely made it
that day. Each suffered enormous head and body injuries:
"Evidence gets lost. You know, as time goes by, witnesses
disappear," he said of the postponements. "You look at the widows,
and they suffer pain, they're gonna suffer pain for the rest of
their lives! There's a void there that's never gonna be filled and
these people are out there; they're celebrating birthdays, and
Christmases, and everything else. And what do these families have?
Nothing."
Cool says Mayor Michael Bloomberg had promised to stand by them and
their families and that the mayor should use his clout now.
The day of the fire, one person, a tenant in the building named
Elizabeth Perez, may have summed it up the best:
"They came here to save our lives. And then they gotta die? It's
really sad."
CBS 2 spoke with the defense lawyer who has been ill. The lawyer
said he will be ready to start the trial on Oct. 1.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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