By DAVID WEISS
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — City fire Capt. Christopher Hughes heard the elderly woman crying for help inside her smoke-filled Hazle Avenue apartment.
Hughes, unfamiliar with the layout of the apartment above the White House Caf, could only follow the womans voice as he tried to save her from the September 2004 arson.
I could hear her coughing and shouting out for help, Hughes testified Tuesday at the first day of trial for the man accused of torching the building. It took me a minute or two to locate her.
Hughes found 93-year-old Helen Pacewicz, still with her walker, and scooped her up in my arms before other firefighters helped rescue Pacewicz from the burning building.
Police said the tavern fire was one of three intentionally lit by 24-year-old Michael Boyle in the early morning of Sept. 11, 2004.
Boyle, of Wilkes-Barre, is charged with numerous counts of arson and other offenses, including ethnic intimidation. His jury trial began Tuesday afternoon before Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., with Hughes and others testifying.
Assistant District Attorney Tim Doherty, in his opening statement to jurors, said Boyle admitted to police three times that he lit the fires. In one instance, he said he lit the fires because he hated black people, Doherty said. The White House Caf has a heavy black clientele.
But Boyles attorney, Demetrius Fannick, told jurors to be wary of the admission.
Fannick said a drunken Boyle was walking to his home, which was in the area of the fires, when he was arrested.
Police, the attorney said, were in a rush to make an arrest in the case and hastily and wrongly took Boyle into custody. They then coerced Boyle to make a confession by telling him he would not be able to speak with his mother until he gave them a confession, Fannick said.
Prosecutors, Fannick said, will not be able to prove Boyle, who he described as a law-abiding citizen with no racial hatred or prior criminal convictions, lit the fires.
Firefighters first responded to the White House around 2:45 a.m. after Patrolman Scott Hine spotted the flames. Fire crews arrived and found the rear of the building ablaze, trapping the bars owner, Pacewicz, in her upstairs apartment.
While at that fire scene, another fire at a nearby Hutson street home was reported. And, a short time later, a third fire at a nearby Columbus Avenue home was reported. The buildings did not sustain major damage.
Pacewicz, upon her rescue, was treated for smoke inhalation.
Hughes had to wait for fire crews to douse some flames before he could get to the second floor. There, he had to force his way into the apartment before finding Pacewicz.
He tried calming her and wanted to find another way out instead of going near the rear of the building by the flames.
But when he scooped Pacewicz up, she was able to see the flames and panicked a bit.
She was screaming, yelling to get her out of the building, Hughes said.
Hughes said other firefighters gained access to the front of the apartment and helped him get Pacewicz to an ambulance.
The trial could conclude today. Boyle previously pleaded guilty in the case twice, but later withdrew the pleas.