Texas launches criminal probe into plant explosion
Source: AP-Excite
By ANGELA K. BROWN and RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
WACO, Texas (AP) - Texas law enforcement officials on Friday launched a criminal investigation into the massive fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month, after weeks of largely treating the blast as an industrial accident.
The announcement came the same day federal agents said they found bomb-making materials belonging to a paramedic who helped evacuate residents the night of the explosion. Bryce Reed was arrested early Friday on a charge of possessing a destructive device, but law enforcement officials said they had not linked the charge to the April 17 fire and blast at West Fertilizer Co.
"It is important to emphasize that at this point, no evidence has been uncovered to indicate any connection to the events surrounding the fire and subsequent explosion ... and the arrest of Bryce Reed by the ATF," the McLennan County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Texas Department of Public Safety said earlier Friday that the agency had instructed the Texas Rangers and the sheriff's department to conduct a criminal probe into the explosion. The agencies will join the State Fire Marshall's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which have been leading the investigation and never ruled out that a crime may have been committed.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130510/DA66N82G4.html
In this May 2, 2013, file photo investigators move and look through the debris of the destroyed fertilizer plant in West, Texas. Texas law enforcement officials launched a criminal investigation Friday, May 10, 2013, into the massive explosion last month that killed 14 people. (AP Photo/LM Otero, Pool)
ZRT2209
(1,357 posts)hollysmom
(5,946 posts)This was a devastating event.
DCKit
(18,541 posts)Stuff found at the guy's home... he's not one of us.
mc51tc
(219 posts)But if it turns out to be, just think that he attended and spoke at the funeral in Waco with President Obama and the First Lady in attendance on the stage. Something is rotten in Denmark regarding this tragedy in West.
mc51tc
(219 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)What in hell took them so long?
There were safety violations to beat the band, and federal laws flouted with regard to storage and reporting. People should go to jail for this shit--preferably before they die of old age.
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)What are they hiding? Will there be hearings?
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)If I didn't have faith in the capitalist and political system in Texas, I would think they are setting up this guy as the fall guy instead of negligence of the plant owner and government.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)Then I thought back on the rich bastard who owns the place, and the lack of restrictions Texas has on businesses...and I'm beginning to think there's more than meets the eye here, too.
Read this as well (I especially like the comments):
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-03/texas-fertilizer-plant-had-long-list-of-break-ins-records-show.html
I found Bryce is a country singer:
http://www.myspace.com/bryceareed
Gabby Hayes
(289 posts)Allowing voluntary adherence to the law (sic) by big polluters and companies like West Fertilizer was Dubya's stated policy when he first took office as governor. Rick Perry continued the same policy. Incidentally, the policy has also resulted in dramatic new mercury warnings regarding certain fish in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/dshs-too-much-mercury-texas-coast-fish-8516.shtml
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)1st: Bomb making materials? a wind up clock, batteries and some wire? Somebody in Texas who has black powder or gunpowder? In a state full of gun owners and shell reloaders. Blasting caps, I have known people who had blasting caps, they had an pyrotechnics license (or whatever you call it, it was when I worked in Rochelle Il, at the slaughter house). Kinda vague.
2nd Is someone suggesting an EMT built and held onto a bomb until he could sneak into the fertilizer plant for some nefarious reason? That 270 tons of illegally manufactured and stored explosives is a side note?
Is there mandatory drug testing in Mclennan Co. Texas?
Gabby Hayes
(289 posts)Conflicting stories about Bryce Reed are starting to turn up in West.
http://www.kvue.com/news/West-EMS-worker-arrested-for-possessing-destructive-device-206913451.html
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/destructive-device-arrest-made-in-west
ReRe
(10,597 posts).... my mind said "patsy," i.e. scapegoat.