Witness Describes Horror of Truck Debris Flying By

DENVER — To demonstrate the force of the blast that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, government prosecutors wheeled carts into the courtroom Wednesday that carried tire rims, a gear and an eight-foot truck frame--bent, blackened pieces that exploded in downtown Oklahoma City two years ago.

But it took the testimony of one eyewitness and his recollection of the truck axle tumbling through the air to seemingly touch the jury, prompting one juror to bury her face in her hands.

The debris was all that was left of a Ryder rental truck allegedly driven by accused bomber Timothy J. McVeigh. It had been scattered over several city blocks and prosecutors used it to demonstrate the destructiveness of the 2-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil truck bomb that they say McVeigh drove to the front of the building.

And to further tie McVeigh to the bombing, the worst case of terrorism to have taken place on U.S. soil, prosecutors played for the jury chilling black-and-white photos from a downtown surveillance camera that show a Ryder truck moving slowly toward the Murrah building.

The series of photos, taken from the Regency Towers high-rise apartment building near the Murrah site, show the truck stopping momentarily before proceeding toward the federal office building.

The explosion occurred at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995. The bombing killed 168 people and injured more than 500. McVeigh has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

A second defendant, alleged co-conspirator Terry L. Nichols, is to be tried separately later.

Also on Wednesday, prosecutors called to the witness stand a number of federal employees whose colleagues died in the bombing, including federal law enforcement workers who lost eight colleagues. Under federal law, the murder of a U.S. law enforcement agent carries the death penalty.

But the most gripping testimony came from a maintenance worker at the Regency Towers. Richard Nichols, a Regency janitor, ran outside at the time of the explosion in time to see the Ryder truck’s giant axle whir through the air and smash into his wife’s car.

The surveillance camera that captured the Ryder truck also showed Bertha Nichols driving her small red car up to the front of the Regency Towers. With her was a nephew, Chad, and they were picking up her husband for a trip to the doctor.

“I took about two steps when there was a terrific explosion,” Richard Nichols testified. “We felt heat and pressure and it kind of spun us around a little.”

His wife had stepped out of the car. “What’s going on?” she screamed. He grabbed her. He thought the boilers had just blown at the Regency. “We made a lunge for the car because my little nephew was in the car,” he said.

That was when he saw the 250-pound truck axle tumbling toward them. “I saw this humongous object coming straight at us, spinning like a boomerang,” he said.

They secured 10-year-old Chad in the car just as the axle struck the side of the vehicle and clanged onto the street.

No one in the family was injured. But the memory still haunts Richard Nichols. “Excuse me,” he said at one point from the witness stand, trembling so much he could not continue.