Two Tenants Die Of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In New Jersey As Alarms Sit In The Basement

Two recent deaths in a Jersey City, N.J., apartment building were due to carbon monoxide poisoning, according to The Jersey Journal.

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/jerseycity/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1302157523245801.xml&coll=3

This story has several particularly tragic twists. If  authorities had figured out the cause of the first death more quickly, perhaps they could have prevented the second one.

And the carbon monoxide alarms that could have saved both lives were never installed. Alarms were found, in an unopened box, in the building’s basement, The Journal reported.

Authorities blamed a damaged water-heater vent on the roof of 446 Baldwin Ave. for creating fatal levels of the noxious gas. The water heater and its vent were installed correctly, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio. But it’s believed that this harsh winter’s heavy snowfalls may have damaged the vent, The Journal reported.

Poor 24-year-old Rosaria Ferreras-Matos had moved into her new apartment last Sunday, and was discovered dead in her new abode the next day.

When the medical examiner’s office found that Ferreras-Matos had died of carbon monoxide, it took another look at the March 12 death of Arthur Galloway, 48, who had died in the same apartment as the woman. Although officials originally thought he had died of health problems he had, additional tests determined that his true cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, according to The Journal.

The landlord of the apartment building where the two tenants died was cited for 15 violations, including one for not having carbon monoxide alarms installed in the units.

But the county prosecutor told The Journal that these code violations would not likely lead to any criminal charges being filed against the landlord. 

Now that’s not justice.