Michigan Tragedy

A law school student at the University of Michigan suffered second-degree burns and a broken vertebra last week when he was forced to jump from his third-floor dormitory window to escape a fire which Ann Arbor police suspect may have been set deliberately.

James Picozzi, a second-year law student from Schenectady. N.Y., woke up at 4:15 a.m. to find his room ablaze. When smoke and flames prevented him from getting to the door, he climbed out the window and held into a ledge.

But the ledge became too hot to hold onto, and before hallmates could come to his rescue. Picozzi fell, screaming for help, more than 20 feet to a lawn below. "It was an inferno in there," said second-year law student Greg Frizzell.

Ann Arbor Fire Marshall Wesley Prater said that although the test results aren't back from the lab, it looks as if gasoline or some other fuel was used in the fire.

Friends and dormitory residents said that Picozzi is resented by other law students because law professors often allow him extra time on written tests. Picozzi had the tops of two fingers amputated when he was younger, making it difficult for him to write.

But one Law Quad resident, who asked not to be identified, said that "No one would want to murder [Picozzi]." --The Michigan Daily