KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A JJ’s worker has to live with the traumatic memory of a co-worker crying for help after the Plaza explosion. That’s just one of the witness statements released in an 18-page report of interviews by Kansas City police following the blast.
All of the statements are from witnesses describing what they saw and experiences that night before and after the Feb. 19 explosion.
One of the most disturbing accounts is by one man who described Megan Cramer’s last moments.
The report says, “…everything became pitch black… blood was everywhere and something heavy was on top of him. He managed to free himself by pushing the stuff off him and there was only one way out. As he was crawling out, he heard Megan asking for help.”
Another witness, Mark Ebbitts, was drinking a glass of wine in JJ’s bar and left just minutes before the building came down.
It was just after 5 p.m. on that Tuesday. Ebbitts closed up shop at Shelton Travel Service and was walking across the street to JJ’s with a friend.
“We encounter the firemen, we make a joke about cigarettes and matches, everyone laughs. Smell of gas in the air for sure,” Ebbitts told FOX 4 on Wednesday.
According to the police report, firefighters inside the restaurant advised employees to blow out candles and turn off pilot lights.
At 5:17pm, KCFD leaves the scene in the hands of an MGE employee who tells the fire captain on scene they don’t need assistance and are bringing in equipment to cut off the gas.
“We’re not feeling threatened because there’s a ton of MGE employees in the street,” said Ebbitts.
As Ebbitts and two other JJ’s customers are enjoying a cocktail, he says an MGE employee walks into the restaurant with a sensor to read the gas levels in the air.
“It didn’t go off in the bar area, but as soon as he went down one step in the restaurant area it went off,” he said.
According to the police report, that MGE employee told the General Manager of JJ’s the gas levels were dangerous. The GM told police that the MGE worker didn’t make the situation sound urgent.
Ebbitts heard that conversation.
“In so many words he says you better just shut it down. Which means dont get the heck out of dodge and leave immediately,” he said.
Ebbitts said he finished his glass of wine and safely left. Five minutes later the building exploded.
“I feel very fortunate. I feel there was a guardian angle looking over the three of us. The three customers that were in the bar that’s for sure. But I really feel bad for Megan Cramer and her family for her loss of life,” he said.
Ebbitts questions why everyone in the area was not evacuated, including his building across the street which is home to several businesses.
Though he did note, after the explosion, the gas to his building was turned off. When he came in the next morning there was a lock on the meter.
