Chamber Honors Those Who Aided in Farmers Market Tragedy

By Jorge Casuso

Sept. 9 -- It was a time to remember the sound and fury of what seemed a tornado sweeping through the street, the sight of fallen bodies and the outstretched hand tugging at a passing shirt-sleeve for help.

It was also a time to praise the emergency crews and bystanders who rushed to the aid of wounded strangers, the Chamber of Commerce members who set up a relief fund that has collected more than $150,000 and the donors whose checks continue to pour in.

On Tuesday, the chamber held a special luncheon to honor those whose aid and kindness helped shine a light on the tragedy that left 10 dead and more than 50 injured when an elderly driver's runaway car barreled through the Farmers Market on July 16.

"I came to learn that in spite of overwhelming tragedy we're not helpless," Mayor Richard Bloom told the crowd gathered at the Four Points Hotel. "We're a strong community, and in the tragedy that we suffer, we must find strength.

"We will never forget what happened here," Bloom said. "We will learn that we are a strong community and a unified community."

Photo by Frank Gruber

Laura Avery, who heads the Farmers Market, remembered the noise and the whirlwind that rushed up the street past her table.

"I thought it was a tornado, there was so much motion and upset in the atmosphere," Avery said. "I was in absolute shock. The car stopped and immediately people started helping people."

One of those who rushed to the scene was Rob Piubeni, sales manager for the Santa Monica Daily Press, who is an emergency medical technician.

Piubeni was at his desk eating a Cobb salad when a colleague called on the phone. There had been a horrible accident. Sirens wailed as Piubeni rushed half a block to Arizona Avenue.

"I looked right, then left and couldn't believe what I saw," Piubeni said.

Piubeni started to help victims. One woman he tried to save, Teresa Breglia, died squeezing his hand. Breglia had arrived from New York on June 8 but couldn't find a job or a home. Piubeni set out to find her family.

"I wanted to tell them that she didn't die alone," Piubeni said. With money from the chamber fund, Breglia's body was flown back to her family in the Bronx, where she was buried.

Tina Fasbender was another Santa Monica worker who found herself surrounded by the wounded and dying and who turned to the chamber to help fly one of the victims, Melissa Greenstein, home.

Greenstein had been in Santa Monica one hour -- long enough to check her bags in at the Hotel Carmel -- when she found herself laying on Arizona Avenue badly wounded.

"She happened to be the victim that I focused on," said Fasbender, who runs an entertainment business management firm on Ocean Avenue. "As I leaned down, she reached up and grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and said, 'Please, don't leave me alone, don't leave me to die alone.'"

Fasbender stayed on the scene while Greenstein was treated, then visited her at the hospital, where she was recovering from a broken foot, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and fractures in both bones that connect to her hip joints. Like Piubeni, Fasbender turned to the chamber, which paid to fly Greenstein first class back to Vermont.

A month after the accident, Fasbender, who had hired a private eye to track down Greenstein's family, received a letter from the women she had helped.

"When I got this letter, so many things were answered," Fasbender said. "Why me? Maybe because I'm bold enough to stop a fireman. She would have died on the street. Look at this woman. She's going to spend her life giving back to other people."

Police Chief James T. Butts, Jr. and Fire Chief Ettore Berardinelli recalled the professionalism and efficiency of emergency crews who rushed to an accident scene they both agreed was the most horrific they had witnessed in their careers.

"I looked at an accident scene that had the potential to overwhelm them (the emergency crews), and (they) overwhelmed it," said Fire Chief Ettore Berardinelli. "It was the largest tragedy I ever witnessed in my three decades here with the fire department."

"It was truly a monumental effort," Berardinelli said. "It was truly monumental teamwork."

Butts praised the fire chief for his "leadership qualities" and the chamber for not only collecting money for the victims, but for dispersing it, no easy matter when the names of the living victims can not be made public.

"The police will put the checks in the mail tomorrow," Butts said.

Although not as dramatic as the help lent at the scene, the effort to collect money was extraordinary, those who participated agreed.

C.J. Gordon-Moll from U.S. Bank outlined how the former Santa Monica Bank "stepped out of the box" and quickly set up not only a bank account, but the ability to accept credit cards. For many of the workers -- the tellers average 23 years on the job -- the accident outside their door "became a defining moment."

"It floored me that we could pull it off," Gordon-Moll said. "It made us feel more tied to the community, and we're just glad to be involved."

The law firm of Harding, Larmore, Kutcher and Kozel also stepped up, setting up the fund's non-profit status and handling the legal paperwork pro bono.

"We got checks from all over Southern California -- Pasadena, Orange County, the Valley," said Tom Larmore, who is a partner in the firm. "Sometimes people who came to the Farmers Market handed you a few bucks. It was very touching."

People wishing to make a donation to the fund can do so by sending a check made payable to "Santa Monica Farmers Market Victims Assistance Fund,” to: P.O. Box 51943, Los Angeles, CA 90051-6243. Donations can be made online by visiting the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Web site.