Steve Kroft revisits the case of Louis Taylor, who may have been falsely accused and imprisoned for decades for setting a hotel fire in Tucson that killed 28.
This happened two years before I was born. Both my parents and an aunt watched the hotel burn, witnessed people jumping to their deaths, and saw firefighters removing bodies from the building.They saw the fire from my grandparents house and went to watch it. Downtown Tucson is only a mile or so East of where my grandparents lived at the time. My mother was fifteen, my dad was twenty, and my aunt was of unknown age at the time. From what they described to me about it over the course of my life is this: "It was horrible. You don't ever want to see people die like that." I am fifty years old and have been fortunate enough to have never seen anything like that.
And that Cy Holmes fellow should be embarrassed to even have verbalized something as ridiculous as "Blacks at that point, their background was the use of fire for beneficial purposes." What are we comic book characters?!
What the hell was that expert witness talking about black people and fire? That is the most absurd & racist testimony I've ever heard, and no one objected?
I've always believed Louis Taylor most likely did NOT set the Pioneer Hotel Fire. But even if he did, the prosecution's evidence at his 1971 trial was so incredibly weak that I NEVER would have voted to convict had I been on that jury. There was too much REASONABLE DOUBT. And if the cause of the fire is now "undetermined", then Taylor can't legally be guilty of arson.
What a DEMONIC woman , She OBVIOUSLY didn’t care about any evidence , Or making right what was done WRONG to this Man even after ALL THESE YEARS How on earth does she sleep at night
I've had to frequent the building for voc rehab and a law firm. I'm super sensitive to spiritual stuff anyway, and my senaea go through the roof every time I go into the Pioneer building. Straight up gives me the creeps.
It's so sad that this had to come down to a "deal". The courts, police officers and city should have to pay for what was done to this poor man! But now they won't because he took the deal! But at least he's a free man, he deserves his freedom!
He was released on 04/02/2013, but four years after his release, Taylor was arrested on suspicion of an armed robbery at a hotel at the age of 63. He pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery in 2017.
It’s so sad because he finally got let out of prison and he ended up being arrested for Armed robbery...So that means he was falsely accused and held for over 40 years and didn’t receive a single dime for it just sad all around
The building is not haunted. Tucson is haunted by the building. Although, I am thankful for its existence in one way or another. I am not a fan of the remodel, I am thankful they preserved that part of our history. I get to tell this event to posterity now, show them the building. We can talk about Tucsons ghosts and skeletons and hopefully the next generation can learn from them. Such a tragic event to lie almost forgotten within the cities history. RIP to all those who died and my heart really does go out to all those affected by this. Such a tragic end.
😩 " TERRIFYING!... I recall the national news showing lots of deadly fires, throughout the1970s. Just a year after this one, there was an even deadlier hotel fire in Seoul (South Korea). It wasn't until the mid-1980s that more extensive national fire safety measures became more widely-mandated and installed. "
Man they screwed Louis Taylor royally. I'm so glad that this man is somehow taking it all in stride. I hope a well to do person in the private sector sets Mr. Taylor up real nice since we can't expect our government to do so...
I had no idea this tragedy took place in 1970... I always thought it had been sometime in the mid 60s, judging from the old images and film clips back then... Evidently, improved fire equipment technology, such as the snorkel (first in service in some cities around 1968) hadn't gotten to Tuscon yet..
Dude same. I was asking my grandma about it once, and my mom pipes up from the other room “Yeah, I remember at school the next day we…” and I was like “Whaaaa?”
He should be free, should have never went cuz the evidence wasn't there, but there's a good chance he actually did it. Why was he there? To crash the party? People generally know each other at these sorts of events, a 16-year-old would have stuck out, if a bartender had served him they would remember I'm sure
I guess that former fire official has never been to the rural parts of the west! Plenty of rural, weight folk use fire for clearing or refuse disposal!
He was talking about using fire for financial gain, not burning for refuse or garbage disposal . Setting fire in hotels and then robbing the empty rooms of valuables is as old as time. Also once the fire is extinguished they would hire locals to help rebuild the structure. Unfortunately some of the people hired would be the same ones who lit the fire 🔥
His best excuse for being at a hotel at night on a Sunday is he was trying to hustle some liquor at age 16? BS and lies is usually what trips up guilty people.
@wiibaron - Actually, prior to the fire, Taylor was well known to downtown police as a street kid whose M.O. was hustling up freebies. There were several big holiday parties in the hotel that night, so his "best excuse" is a pretty good one.
The ‘40’s thru the ‘70’s we’re horrible years for fires in big venues…you would think the US would have heeded those warnings and come up with precautions. Naw…too many political connections.
