Station Nightclub Owner Released From Prison - "Remembering The Loss Of Life And Pain From Family Members And Survivors Is Something That Will Never Leave Me"
June 26, 2009, 15 years ago
WBZ is reporting:
The former co-owner of the Station nightclub in Rhode Island has been released early from prison for good behavior.
One hundred people were killed in the February 2003 blaze.
A spokesman for the state prison said Michael Derderian was freed Thursday. He was initially due out this fall.
Derderian spent less than three years behind bars after pleading no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the West Warwick nightclub fire. The fire was sparked by pyrotechnics used by the rock band GREAT WHITE – which ignited cheap foam used as soundproofing.
Derderian said in an e-mailed statement that his time in prison was difficult but that others have suffered worse.
"Although my incarceration has ended, remembering the loss of life and pain from family members and survivors is something that will never leave me," the statement said. "The magnitude of what happened cannot be measured in words."Daniel Biechele, the band manager who lit the pyrotechnics, was released from prison last spring after serving less than two years of his four year sentence.
Jeffrey Derderian, Michael's brother and co-owner of the Station, was spared prison time and sentenced instead to probation and 500 hours of community service.
Last fall the Derderian brothers reached an $813,000 civil settlement with fire survivors and the families of those who perished.
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