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Stumble It!Eli Greenbaum was one of the several witnesses who took the stand and gave testimony to jurors Wednesday. Greenbaum had been asleep with his girlfriend on the third floor of the Boardwalk Apartments when he awoke to a smoke-filled apartment.
"We have to get out of here or we're not going to make it," Greenbaum said to his girlfriend.
"There were some police that had come to the window and we had been yelling at people to bring a ladder or help or something," he recalled in his testimony. "After several minutes of nothing happening, no sign of firemen, I told Dawn, we have to jump or we're going to die."
Greenbaum and his girlfriend, Dawn Davis, both jumped from their window to escape the blaze. He sustained severe injuries to both of his feet.
"I just kind of went out the window, just hung down as much as I could. The police actually came and they had a towel between them, so they said aim for the towel. They held it between them to try to break my fall. At the time I weighed 210 pounds, so I went through it like paper," Greenbaum said.
More witnesses and law enforcement will take the stand as the trial is expected to last two weeks. Jason Rose is charged with one count of aggravated arson, three counts of felony murder and seven counts of aggravated battery for the October 2005 blaze. The Boardwalk Apartment fire killed three people, including KU student Nicole Bingham.
