Quadriplegic man rescued from Roxbury fire

June 11, 2008 02:24 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Police and firefighters rushed into a burning apartment building in Roxbury this afternoon and rescued a bedridden quadriplegic who was trapped while his apartment filled with acrid black smoke.

Eliezer Oritz, 29, has been paralyzed from his chest down since he was shot during an armed robbery six years ago, according to his family. This morning an electrical fire started in the basement of the three-story apartment building where he lives on Deckard Street, across from Boston Latin Academy.

Boston police and a school resource officer, working at school police headquarters inside the school, heard shouts from neighbors and smelled smoke. They rushed to the building around 11:45 a.m. and ran through it alerting residents of the smoky basement fire.

In his first floor bedroom, Oritz stayed calm and explained to his rescuers that they had to move him gingerly or he could be seriously injured. As smoke filled the bedroom, police and two Boston firefighters worked together and carried Ortiz to safety.

"If it wasn't for them, I don't know what would have happened," said his sister, Wanda Ortiz, 30, who stayed with her younger brother until the last moment.

Three Boston police officers and one school resource officer were taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They suffered smoke inhalation while evacuating other residents, officials said. Ortiz told authorities he was unharmed.

District Nine Fire Chief Paul Miller said the blaze was caused by a faulty electrical plug in the basement apartment, which did not have smoke detectors as required by law. Miller estimated that the fire caused $50,000 in damage.

The public safety personnel involved were Boston police Sergeant Detective Michael Talbot, officers Curtis Mosely, Heather MacKenzie, Donald Caisey, and school police officer Maurice Osteen. Caisey and fire Lieutenant Robert Santangelo and Firefighter Edward Doherty, from Ladder 23, together evacuated Ortiz.