By Steve Patterson
The Chicago Sun-Times
Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
An emergency medical technician who said he overheard victims of the deadly Lincoln Park porch collapse say they were jumping on the porch before it fell now says he doesn’t remember anyone talking about it.
Victor Villa also said he doesn’t remember talking to city attorneys about what he overheard — even though the city used his statements to file a negligence suit against two men on the porch, including one whose brother was killed.
In a deposition he gave this week under a judge’s order, Villa said he doesn’t even remember if he was even working at St. Joseph’s Hospital the night 13 people were killed and 60 others were injured.
“Villa has been completely destroyed as a credible witness,” said attorney Terry Ekl, who represents the family of Robert Koranda — who was among those killed in the June 2003 incident — in a lawsuit against the city and the owner of the building at 713 W. Wrightwood Ave.
Ekl also represents Koranda’s brother, John, who Villa said was talking in the emergency room with William Fenton-Hathaway about jumping on the porch just before it fell. They and others on the porch have insisted all along they did nothing to contribute to the collapse.
CITY: STILL ‘CREDIBLE WITNESS’
Villa made the allegations in a February 2005 deposition, which the city used to bolster its claims that John Koranda and Fenton-Hathaway contributed to the horrific accident.
But now, 18 months later, Villa says he remembers none of it.
“It’s clear [Villa] got caught in some lies and is now trying to get out of it,” said attorney Francis Patrick Murphy, whose firm represents other victims. “There was no misconduct by any of these kids.”
But city Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said the city still considers Villa “a credible witness” and stand by his earlier deposition.
“His memory was obviously better in February 2005,” she said. “We still think he will be a good witness if we ultimately decide to use him at trial.”
Ekl called that “pure spin.”
The city’s lawsuit also cites a police report in which a Chicago detective claims to have interviewed a witness who indicated that people were jumping up and down prior to the collapse. But that witness later denied making that statement.
Villa, a father of five with a lengthy criminal history, no longer works as an EMT. An ice delivery driver, he lives with his mother in Chicago and could not be reached.
Villa had resisted giving a deposition to attorneys representing the victims. On Monday, a judge ordered him to do it — which he did Tuesday at Clifford Law Offices.
GOT 15-YEAR-OLD PREGNANT
Murphy said that during the deposition, Villa, 31, insisted he’s turned his life around, though he also admitted he had impregnated a 15-year-old girl and was getting tattoos to cover up earlier tattoos, including one on his chest that says “f--- you.”
But when it came to recalling even the smallest details from the night of the porch collapse, Villa said he couldn’t remember, Ekl said.
Villa’s deposition is the latest in a series that have been filed in the case, including some from building inspectors who admitted they were not properly trained for their jobs and got them only because of political connections.