Let the Fire Burn Page #9

you can almost feel it.

That's the same sensation

I think we all got,

that we knew Birdie

was hurt at this time.

It was an actual feeling.

We could all feel it.

I remember Birdie just laying there,

not doing anything.

I said, "Tommy, here. Take my shotgun."

I said, "I'm gonna go get the kid."

And I remember him saying to me,

"I'll cover you."

- Officer Mellor saying that?

- That's right.

At one point

did I start out to get Birdie,

and that's the first time

I realized officer Tursi was behind me.

He grabbed my left shoulder. He said,"

Don't go out there, Jim. It's a trap."

What was your concern, officer?

I don't know how to explain it

other than a sixth sense or something...

that there was something wrong

in the way Ramona went down.

I just felt something was incorrect

or not right about that situation.

I stopped him from going out

right at that time. That's all.

I was scared to death. I just didn't

wanna let that kid lay there like that.

So what did you do?

My priorities at that time were the kid.

We're trying to say to him,

"Son, come over here. Come over here."

We're trying to get him to come to us.

This is the result

of officer Tursi saying be careful.

"It's not right" or

something to that effect.

"It doesn't feel right."

inadvertently, Birdie gets up.

I remember him taking a few steps

and went down in the water.

He fell?

I interpreted it as a fall

or stumble or whatever.

As soon as he went

down in the water,

at the same time that I seen that,

officer Tursi's right with me.

I said,

"Mike, I'm getting the kid,"

and he said,

"I got you covered."

I remember I went in

underneath with my right hand,

and I scooped him

underneath his left arm.

Was his head

submerged under the water?

I don't remember.

As soon as he hit the water, I went.

I remember as soon

as I scooped him up,

he said to me,

"Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me."

When the police got you

after you finally got out,

did they ask you anything

about whether or not

there were any kids

still in the house...

or were there any other

grown-ups still in the house?

Yeah.

- You said there were other kids still there?

- Mm-hmm.

Do you remember who it was

who was still in the house?

Tree,

Netta,

Tomaso and Melissa,

Phil,

and the big people

were Theresa, Rhonda,

Paul,

Nick...

and Rad and C.K.

Ramona Africa, the MOVE spokesperson in

recent weeks, is in police custody tonight.

She was captured

outside the MOVE compound...

sometime after the massive fire

broke out there this afternoon.

The child being treated

here at Children's...

is suffering from second-and

third-degree burns on his arms and legs.

All officials know at this point about his

identity is that his last name is Africa.

All night long,

an increasing number of firemen...

have been trying to battle

what is now a six-alarm blaze.

There's a lot more water

being trained on it,

but it looks as though this is going

to burn for a long, long time.

We had a difficult problem.

We made a difficult decision.

It did not turn out as we intended.

As we face the coming days,

I ask your prayers for our city,

for the homeless families...

and for the families

of those who've lost lives.

In the beginning, MOVE people...

were the most happiest bunch

of people you could ever know.

We were a family, peaceful, loving.

And in the beginning,

MOVE was harassed a great deal.

We were beat many, many times.

We were jailed

many, many times.

And I'm talking about a people...

who had feelings,

who are no different than you or I.

If the system can convict me

of riot and conspiracy...

in a blatant situation like that...

where it's obvious to everybody,

the whole world, that I did not riot,

then it should not be hard

to imagine at all...

why and how this system convicted

nine people of murdering one cop.

It's the same thing,

that the system had one intention

in both confrontations,

to either kill MOVE people

or to put us in prison as long as possible.

It's just that simple.

Was it like being in a war?

There's just too many things are going on,

to sit here and just say how you felt.

We felt- I thought about

the kids in the house.

I thought about my kids.

I thought about a lot of things.

But to sit here- I don't know.

- I couldn't answer that.

- Mm-hmm.

I am, uh-

I've, uh, been sitting here

listening for many days...

and I've read scores of pages

of reports and testimony.

And it has all been. All of it.

Uh, very depressing...

and very discouraging...

except what I've read

about officer Berghaier...

and what I've heard

from officer Berghaier.

And if there's any hope

in this whole sorry situation,

it's because of that officer,

and I wanna thank him.

Thank you, sir.

I think you've done

such a good job.

I'm gonna stop

my questions now,

and I wanna thank you for taking all this

time to come in here and chat with us.

That will bring a smile

to your face, won't it?

And I wanna thank

your dad, Mr. Ward.

- Thank you very much for your cooperation.

- You're quite welcome.

- And Mr. Shrager, of course.

- Thank you.

This will conclude

this deposition of testimony...

of Michael, uh, Ward.

As of today,

you the people,

have all the principal facts...

which tell the story

of the Osage Avenue tragedy.

Rarely has any community

ever subjected itself...

to a public self-appraisal...

as painful and necessary

as this has been.

But we believe that this process

is absolutely necessary...

to prevent such a terrible thing

from ever happening again.

And now I declare

these public hearings...

to be in recess until further notice.

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