Twenty-four-year old Eric Copeland said Tuesday afternoon was the scariest time of his life, scrambling to leave his apartment and then watching the next-door apartment building burn down after a small jet smashed into it.
Copeland, who works nights, was sitting in bed talking to a friend when the chartered jet with nine people on board crashed frightfully close, shaking his building.
“I thought a semi ripped through my apartment, because it shook so hard and it was loud,” he said. “I was on the phone with my buddy. I told him I’d have to call him back. I got out of the bed and ran to the kitchen window and saw telephone lines down in the driveway. Then I ran back to my bedroom and looked out and saw an inferno. I felt the heat — this instant, crazy heat — coming as soon as I opened up the curtain to my bedroom window. I was running around frantic, and I grabbed my jeans and my shoes and glasses and ran across the street.”
He said he didn’t bother to grab a jacket.
“I didn’t know what was happening, all I could see was fire. I didn’t want to stick around. I was standing across the street for 10 minutes watching the fire when someone said they saw a plane go down.”
On Friday, Copeland still hadn’t been cleared to reoccupy his apartment as authorities continued to closely control the crash site and its immediate surroundings.
Akron Fire Chief Ed Hiltbrand said he’s not sure when the residents will be able to return to their apartments on either side of the building that was destroyed.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board spent Thursday removing wreckage from the scene; though they weren’t working at the site Friday, Hiltbrand said the federal crew hasn’t completed its tasks here.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol, meanwhile, helped to monitor the area.
“The State Patrol is waiting to see when NTSB will finish up,” Hiltbrand said. “They’re not done yet and will have another day or two sifting through the wreckage. Then we will have the building razed.”
The Summit County Medical Examiner, meanwhile, released the identities of seven of the people aboard the aircraft. They were identified as:
• Gary Shapiro, 35, from Boca Raton, Fla.
• Diana Suriel, 32, from Wellington, Fla.
• Thomas Virgin, 31, from Boca Raton, Fla.
• Jared Weiner, 35, from Boca Raton, Fla.
• Ori Rom, 32, from Delray Beach, Fla.
• Nick Weaver, 34, from Boca Raton, Fla.
• Diane Smoot, 50, from Delray Beach, Fla.
Summit County Medical Examiner Dr. Lisa J. Kohler and her staff “remain in contact with the family members updating them with information as it transpires,” according to a news release.
Nobody on the ground was injured — and for that, Copeland is thankful.
He has lived in the apartment complex four years. One of his brothers lives downstairs from him and was at work at the time of the crash. Another brother lives in the apartment building on the other side of the one struck by the airplane, and that’s who he called first. He didn’t get an answer, but his brother’s fiancee was also across the street and had run from her apartment as well. The brother was not at home at the time.
Copeland joined up with his neighbor across the street, who was at a nearby bar having coffee when the crash occurred and rushed back to make sure no one was in the building.
He and the neighbor decided to save their cars.
“The cars were right next to the flames, it was so hot over there,” he said. “He pulled his car to the side, then I pulled mine to the side of the drive — away from the wreckage — but I couldn’t move it anymore because there were telephone lines there and I didn’t want to catch anything else on fire.”
He said both his Pontiac G6 and his neighbor’s Saturn were not damaged.
“I called my friend back and told him a plane just hit a building next to his apartment building, and he didn’t believe me for the longest time,” Copeland said. “It’s not something that happens every day.”
Copeland said he hopes to be able to move back into his apartment by next weekend.
“They’re supposed to knock down the apartment building struck by the plane on Monday,” he said. “There was little damage to my apartment building on the left, just a few windows blew out.”
Hiltbrand said there was little damage to the building to the left and some damage to the one on the right.
“Some bricks went through some basement windows, and there was a wall damaged. The gas meters were destroyed, and we did some damage by forcible entry when we went inside to make sure there were no victims in the building,” he said.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.