PHILADELPHIA, May 9 -- One of the two survivors of Philadelphia's 1985 MOVE disaster said Thursday the city was wrong to drop a bomb on the rowhouse where the anti-government group was barricaded. 'I don't believe they should have dropped bombs and destroyed the house like they did,' said Michael Ward, testifying at a federal civil trial in which the city and two former official are accused of negligence. 'They could have waited it out.' The bombing, which followed an armed confrontation with MOVE members, sparked a fire that killed six MOVE members and five of their children and destroyed 61 rowhouses. Ward was 13 and known as Birdie Africa at the time. He said he had never been to school and could not read, write or tell time while being brought up MOVE members. When a police helicopter dropped a satchel bomb on a rooftop bunker following a 90-minute gunbattle on May 13, 1985, Ward said he and Ramona Africa took cover in the garage. He said the two then crawled through a small tunnel to an alley to escape the flames that killed everyone else in the house. Africa and the families of two MOVE members who died in the blaze are suing the city, former Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor and former fire commissioner William Richmond. The suit alleges the city used excessive force and failed to fight the fire until it was out of control. A federal judge has ruled that former Mayor Wilson Goode and former City Manager Leo Brooks are immune from the lawsuit.
Africa, 40, was convicted of rioting and conspiracy and served seven years in prison following the MOVE bombing. The confrontation followed longstanding complaints that MOVE members were disrupting the neighborhood and stockpiling weapons. A special commission, appointed by Goode to investigate the MOVE incident, concluded that by allowing the fire to burn, city officials disregarded the civil rights of children inside the MOVE house who should have been viewed as hostages. But investigations by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office and the Justice Department concluded there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by police or city officials.
