« Cicilline resigns as co-chair of Clinton's R.I. campaign | Today | Photo: Pumpkin monster »

September 19, 2007

Families react to parole for Biechele

Relatives of victims of The Station nightclub fire are reacting to the state Parole Board's decision to allow Daniel Biechele, the tour band manager who lit the pyrotechnics that ignited the disastrous blaze, to leave prison on parole in March.

Remarks include:

Dave Kane, the father of Nick O’Neil, the youngest person to die in the fire, said the board made "a good decision."

“I think it’s time now that this young man be given a chance to get back to his life,” O'Neil said. “It would have been OK with me if he had gotten out before March.”

O'Neil said Biechele "is the only guy who stood up and said, 'Here’s what I did, I’m sorry, I’ll take my punishment.' "

Anna Gruttadauria, mother of Pamela Gruttadauria, the 100th person to die, learned of the decision from a Providence Journal reporter, who called her at work shortly before 4:30 p.m. She responded:

“Oh, wonderful! I’m so glad!”

“I felt bad for him from the start. I think he was the fall guy for a lot of people.”

“He’s a good guy. He just made that mistake.”

William K. Anderson, father of fire victim Kevin P. Anderson, said:

“It doesn’t surprise me. I thought that they would.”

“I didn’t really care which way they went. Nobody’s ever going to bring these people back.”

-- Journal staff writer Paul Edward Parker

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 4:39 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)