Earth First! Hires Investigator to Probe Bomb Blast That Injured 2

OAKLAND — The group Earth First! has hired a private investigator to look into a car bomb explosion in which two members of the group were injured and later implicated by police, a member said Monday.

San Francisco Bay Area private investigator Sheila O’Donnel already has begun working with Earth First! attorney Susan Jordan, said Mike Roselle, co-founder of the radical environmental group. The environmental group Greenpeace has offered to pay the investigator’s fees, he said.

Judi Bari, 40, and Darryl Cherney, 33, were booked Friday for investigation of violation of state explosive laws and each held in lieu of $100,000 bail. A pipe bomb went off in Bari’s station wagon as the two were driving through Oakland on Thursday, injuring both. The activists reportedly were driving to Santa Cruz to promote a nonviolent campaign to halt logging of old-growth timber.

Earth First! is a loose-knit group of militant environmentalists, some of whom advocate tactics like blockades, tree-sitting and tree-spiking to discourage the cutting of trees.