posted May 11, 2013 04:24 PM            

Vocal paramedic after Texas fertilizer plant explosion arrested for bomb-making material

WEST, Texas — Three days after a massive explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, Bryce Reed climbed onto a coffee table at a local hotel where displaced families picked over donated sweatshirts and pizza. Wearing a navy blue shirt emblazoned with "West EMS," he gathered the crowd close.

"You're safe where you're at," Reed said, describing an anhydrous ammonia leak inside the rubble at the West Fertilizer Co. plant. "If you're not, I'd be dragging you out of here myself."

Hearty applause echoed in the lobby when Reed stepped down. Yet no one had asked Reed to come, and in a town swarming with federal and state investigators — who had handled all the official briefings and tightly controlled updates — a local volunteer paramedic relaying such information was a stark contrast. He also gave lengthy interviews to national media while other emergency responders in West declined to talk.

Now he's again garnering attention, this time unsolicited.

On Friday, Reed was charged with possessing bomb-making material, including chemical powders — though authorities stressed he hadn't been linked to the plant explosion. And an email obtained by The Associated Press showed he had been "let go" from the town's emergency response squad a day before his hotel speech.

His arrest also drew attention because it came the same day Texas law enforcement officials announced a criminal investigation into the April 17 explosion that killed 14 people, including 10 firefighters and paramedics.

Crystal LeDane reacts after hearing the news that her neighbor of three years, former West EMS volunteer Bryce Ashley Reed, was ordered held without bond on the charge of possession of a destructive device, Friday, in West, Texas.

Reed was among the most vocal residents after the fatal explosion, freely talking to reporters. However, Reed was no longer part of West EMS as of April 19, according to an email sent by a regional EMS organization, the Heart of Texas Regional Advisory Council, to the state health officials.

In an interview on April 21 outside the Czech Inn, where Reed had spoken the previous day to displaced families, Reed talked about facing his own mortality. He said he'd lost 60 pounds in five months, yet doctors couldn't pinpoint the source of his ailing stomach despite performing 26 biopsies.

He also described one of the West firefighters who died in the blast, Cyrus Reed, as his brother though the men weren't related. He said Cyrus Reed worked at Hunting Titan, which manufactured explosives in nearby Milford for oil and gas companies, and would have known the dangers of the ammonium nitrate and anhydrous ammonia inside the plant.

"I will avenge this. This will get right. I don't care what it takes," Reed said when talking about what might have caused the blast. "There's one thing about Texas, that Texans understand: People talk about law and order. Well, welcome to Texas. We believe in justice. I'm going to get my justice. Period."rest here>>> http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/paramedic-vocal-texas-blast-facing-cha rges-article-1.1341245

posted May 12, 2013 12:56 PM            

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