2nd man acquitted in fatal ground zero fire (AP)

NEW YORK – A construction company safety supervisor was acquitted Wednesday of all criminal charges in a blaze that killed two firefighters at a condemned ground zero building, a verdict that marked the second acquittal in the manslaughter case.

Jurors cleared Jeffrey Melofchik a day after acquitting asbestos-cleanup foreman Salvatore DePaola of the same charges. A judge continued weighing the charges against a third man and a company as jurors spoke out about a trial they called a case of blaming a few for the mistakes of many surrounding the August 2007 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building. It was being dismantled in a complicated process designed to contain toxins.

"It was just a project with a lot of difficult things going on, and I didn't think anybody should be blamed for what happened," an elated but composed Melofchik, 49, said as he left court with his wife, Audrey, and other friends and relatives. Some had exclaimed "yes!" on hearing "not guilty" to the second of two manslaughter charges.

"It was a tragic event, and the fact that they ignored everybody else and just picked the three of us, I thought, was totally wrong," Melofchik said.

The blaze, which killed firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph P. Graffagnino, spotlighted poor oversight of the building, which had been damaged and contaminated in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Government agencies had missed inspections and failed to recognize dangers in the project's design.

Melofchik; DePaola, 56; and asbestos cleanup director Mitchel Alvo, 59, were the only people criminally charged in the fire. The John Galt Corp., which employed Alvo and DePaola, was the only company charged. The jury acquitted DePaola of all charges Tuesday.

"Everybody's a scapegoat," foreman Keith Spencer, a 41-year-old UPS worker, said as jurors left court Wednesday. "More people should have been accountable for this."

Alvo and the Galt company chose to have a judge decide the case against them; she has not said when she will rule.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said prosecutors respected the verdict and "hope that this prosecution brought necessary attention to the importance of safety in the construction and demolition industries."

A worker's careless smoking sparked the blaze, which tore through nine floors of the building. The firefighters died after being trapped in thick smoke and running out of air in their oxygen tanks.

Prosecutors said the critical factor in their deaths was a broken firefighting pipe, called a standpipe. Unable to use it, firefighters spent about an hour devising another way to get water on the flames on upper floors. In the meantime, the fire grew to deadly proportions, prosecutors said.

They said Alvo, DePaola and Melofchik knew the pipe had broken about eight months before. Under pressure not to let the cleanup lag, the men had the broken segment carted away and did nothing to repair or report it, prosecutors said. Nonetheless, Melofchik kept signing daily reports saying the building's fire-suppression system was working, according to evidence presented at the trial.

Defense lawyers said the men didn't realize the pipe's firefighting role and that the fire was fed by numerous hazards and regulators' mistakes.

Jurors said they weren't convinced that Alvo and Melofchik bore responsibility for the broken pipe, though they said they struggled more when deciding about Melofchik because of his safety-manager job. Ultimately, they felt it wasn't Alvo's job to identify and safeguard the standpipe, and testimony left questions about the extent of Melofchik's training in dealing with the pipe and whether he was aware of the break, jurors said.

And they came away from more than two months of testimony convinced that other problems had played too big a part in the deadly conditions to attribute the firefighters' deaths to the standpipe.

The project was supposed to be closely monitored by a list of government agencies. But it turned out that the Fire Department of New York hadn't inspected the building for more than a year, though it was required to do so every 15 days. Building, environmental and labor inspectors hadn't realized that firefighting would be complicated by some measures that had been undertaken to control toxins, including plywood stairwell barriers and a fan system that kept smoke in and pulled it down.

The stairwell barriers and, especially, the Fire Department's missed inspections made an impact on juror Rosemary Cardillo. "I felt as though, if they had come in and did their inspections, they would have been aware" of the problems before the fire, the retired real estate broker said.

To juror Lynette Cedeno, the case amounted to "blaming the little guy."

"Justice — it needs to start from the top, where people take responsibility for what their responsibility is, and not just pass it off," said Cedeno, 50, an occupational therapist who works for the city school system.

The city and Melofchik's employer, general contractor Bovis Lend Lease, acknowledged errors in dealing with the former bank building. The Fire Department created dozens of inspection and auditing jobs, and Bovis agreed to finance a $10 million memorial fund for slain firefighters' families, among other responses.

Then-District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said when the indictments were revealed that it would be pointless to try to prosecute the city because governments are generally immune from criminal prosecution, though individual officials and employees sometimes are charged with crimes.

Melofchik's lawyer, Edward J.M. Little, said he hoped the jury verdicts had sent prosecutors a message: "Because a case is sexy doesn't mean it should be brought."

"I think they've learned a lesson here," he said, but "it came at a terrible psychological cost for Jeff and his family."

Melofchik said he had been unable to work during the trial and had striven to keep the details from his sons, 16 and 18.

The last of the former bank building was taken down in February.

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Jennifer Peltz can be reached at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

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1 acquitted in fatal ground zero fire (AP)

NEW YORK – An asbestos-cleanup foreman who said he was a scapegoat for inspectors' failures was acquitted Tuesday of manslaughter and all other charges stemming from a 2007 blaze that killed two firefighters at a ground zero bank tower. Two other construction-company supervisors were still awaiting verdicts in the sole criminal trial stemming from the blaze at the toxic, condemned building.

"I haven't slept in four years," Salvatore DePaola said, his eyes moist, as he left the courtroom after a nearly three-month trial stemming from the August 2007 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building.

After seven days of deliberations, jurors were still debating manslaughter and other charges against co-defendant Jeffrey Melofchik. A judge is weighing the charges against a third defendant, Mitchel Alvo, and the John Galt Co., which employed him and DePaola. The company and Alvo chose to forego the jury.

Sparked by a worker's careless smoking, the blaze revealed a slate of regulatory failures at the building, which was being taken down after being damaged and contaminated with toxic debris in the Sept. 11 attacks. Government agencies and a different company admitted mistakes, but no others were criminally charged.

"There are people who didn't do their jobs, and they should have been up here," said DePaola, pointing a finger at high-ranking Fire Department officials. The department was supposed to inspect the former bank building every 15 days but hadn't done so for more than a year before the blaze ripped through nine stories.

Firefighters Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph P. Graffagnino, 33, died after being trapped in black, choking smoke and running out of air in their oxygen tanks.

Prosecutors said the break in the firefighting pipe, called a standpipe, was the crucial factor in their deaths. With the standpipe useless, it took firefighters about an hour to get water on the flames, letting the blaze build into a lethal inferno, prosecutors said.

They said Alvo, DePaola and Melofchik knew the pipe had broken about eight months before, when workers took down some braces that were holding it to the basement ceiling. Melofchik, 49, was the project's site safety supervisor. Alvo, 59, was a toxin-cleanup director.

The supports were proving stubbornly hard to scrub of asbestos, and the bosses were under pressure to speed the cleanup to keep it from going over budget, prosecutors said.

So after the break, the men had a 42-foot section of standpipe cut up and carted away and did nothing to repair or flag it, though Melofchik continued to sign daily reports saying the building's fire-suppression system was working, prosecutors said.

"They did the thing that killed those firefighters," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann told jurors in a closing argument. "The evidence ... woven together, paints a mosaic of overwhelming guilt — that but for these wholly reckless acts, these firefighters would be alive today."

But defense lawyers said the men didn't recognize the pipe's importance. DePaola, who didn't testify, said Tuesday he had "no idea" it was a standpipe, as it looked like many other pipes in the basement.

"My job was to make sure everything in the area was clean," he said. "I had no jurisdiction over cutting pipes."

The fire was a product of a web of shortsighted regulating and hazards beyond the defendants' control, their lawyers said.

"It's a tragedy — two great firefighters died, but as we saw, and as jurors clearly saw, Sal wasn't responsible for that," said his lawyer, Rick J. Pasacreta.

While the Fire Department missed inspections, building, environmental and labor inspectors hadn't realized that some measures meant to contain toxins could thwart firefighting. Plywood stairwell barriers slowed firefighters' progress, and a fan system kept smoke in and pulled it down, instead of letting it rise and escape.

The city and Melofchik's employer, general contractor Bovis Lend Lease, acknowledged errors. In response, the Fire Department created dozens of inspection and auditing jobs, and Bovis agreed to finance a $10 million memorial fund for slain firefighters' families, among other responses.

Then-DA Robert Morgenthau said it would have been fruitless to try to prosecute the city because of a legal doctrine that generally makes governments immune from criminal prosecution, though individual officials and employees sometimes are charged with crimes.

To Graffagnino's father, the trial has fallen short from the start. Joseph A. Graffagnino considers the defendants small players in a series of fateful mistakes at the building and thinks government officials and Bovis should also have been prosecuted.

"Having this guy (DePaola) declared not guilty, it doesn't do anything for us. It doesn't do anything against us," said Graffagnino, whose family has not attended the trial. "We feel that it's a much bigger case."

A lawyer for Beddia's family didn't immediately return a call Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the building lingered for almost a decade as a grim reminder of the attacks. The last of it was finally removed in February.

If convicted, Alvo and Melofchik could face up to 15 years in prison, and the Galt company could face a $10,000 fine.

DePaola, 56, said he had been unable to work while the case played out; he, too, had faced the possibility of up to 15 years in prison. He said he now might open a deli, like the one he ran before getting into the asbestos-cleanup business.

"I think I'm going to get away from construction," he said, "because a lot of bad things can happen in construction."

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Jennifer Peltz can be reached at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

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NY ex-officer's conviction nixed in fatal shooting (AP)

NEW YORK – An appeals court says a former New York City police officer shouldn't have been convicted of manslaughter for his off-duty shooting of an unarmed, drunken driver after a car crash.

The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division voided Rafael Lora's conviction and dismissed the case Tuesday.

Lora was off duty when he heard a minivan crash into a parked car outside his Bronx home and went to investigate in May 2007. He said minivan driver Fermin Arzu ignored his commands and began driving away, dragging him along. Lora said he shot Arzu five times out of fear for his life.

The court found Lora didn't act recklessly, as the manslaughter charge required.

Lora's lawyers and union say his actions were justified. Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson says he may appeal.

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New charges against driver in fatal Va. bus crash (AP)

BOWLING GREEN, Va. – A driver for a low-fare interstate bus service was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter Friday following a brief court appearance on another charge stemming from this week's crash in Virginia that killed four passengers and injured dozens more.

Kin Yiu Cheung, 37, of Flushing, N.Y., had been free on bond, but he was arrested on the new charges shortly after appearing in Caroline County court Friday morning. Cheung was in court to answer to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge stemming from the Tuesday crash on Interstate 95 about 30 miles north of Richmond.

The new charges are felonies, each carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

"It's never easy to make determinations to bring serious charges, but there was enough evidence to bring the charge," Caroline County Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony Spencer said after Cheung's arrest.

Police say Cheung was fatigued when the Sky Express bus he was driving swerved off the highway shortly before 5 a.m., hit an embankment and overturned. It had departed Greensboro, N.C., Monday night bound for New York City with 58 people, including the driver.

Cheung's lawyer, Murray Janus, called the wreck a "tragic accident," adding he had not had time to talk to Cheung after his latest arrest.

Court records show Cheung had previous traffic violations in Virginia dating back to 2003, including speeding, following too closely, and failing to obey a highway sign and failing to stop or yield entering a highway. It was not clear whether the violations were personal or while driving a commercial vehicle.

Authorities declined to comment on their continuing investigation.

Virginia State Police were on the scene of Tuesday's crash within minutes, arriving quick enough that the bus was still rocking and survivors of the crash were crawling out of the bus into oncoming traffic, Spencer said.

Ben Johnson, a 47-year-old upholsterer from New York City, was riding the bus back from North Carolina after visiting family. He said the bus swerved off the road and hit the rumble strips on the shoulder before the driver tried to get back on the road.

"That's when we started flipping. I was thrown around pretty good ... but not like the rest of them," said Johnson, who broke his leg in the crash and crawled through a broken window in the pre-dawn darkness to get out of the bus, which Johnson called "filthy."

"They did something right. That's good," Johnson said of the charges against the driver. "All he had to do was really just pull over for 10 minutes. We were already late. A few minutes didn't matter, so that could have been between someone else's life, just those few minutes."

A spokeswoman for Sky Express did not immediately comment.

Transportation Department officials were in the process of shutting down the company at the time of the crash, but had given the Charlotte, N.C.-based company an extra 10 days to appeal an unsatisfactory safety rating.

A timeline released by the department earlier this week indicated that without the extension, Sky Express would have stopped operations the weekend before the crash. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has directed the department to stop extending appeals periods for operators found to be unsafe.

Following the crash, federal officials shut down the bus line.

Sky Express is part of an industry of inexpensive buses that travel the East Coast offering cheap fares, convenient routes and, in some cases, free wireless Internet. The industry is in the fifth year of a boom, but a string of deadly accidents also has prompted calls for tougher federal regulation.

According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records, Sky Express buses have been involved in four crashes with an injury or fatality — it didn't specify which — during the two-year period that ended May 20. The company also has been cited for 46 violations of drivers being fatigued over that same time, ranking it worse than 86 percent of similar companies in that category.

Virginia State Police have identified those killed in the crash as Karen Blyden-Decastro, 46, of Cambria Heights, N.Y.; Sie Giok Giang, 63, of Philadelphia; Josefa Torres, 78, of Jamaica, N.Y.; and Denny Estefany Martinez, 25, of Jersey City, N.J.

Cheung is expected to appear before a magistrate Friday, where prosecutors plan to ask that he be held without bond. A grand jury is to hear the latest charges on July 6.

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Associated Press researcher Monika Mathur in New York contributed to this report.

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