Detroit: Carbon monoxide poisoning kills family of four

[Hannah Bell]

A man and his three children all died tragically from carbon monoxide poisoning on Detroit's west side early Thursday morning. The poisonous gas came from a generator the family was using after the local electricity provider, DTE Energy, shut off service for non-payment.

Vaughn Reed, 46, borrowed a generator from New Providence Baptist Church where he worked as the head of security. Reed's wife, Marquetta Owens, and her son DeMonte had asthma and required the assistance of nebulizers to help them breathe. Because of the medical condition of Owens and her son, the household could not sustain even a relatively short duration without power.



The Reed's home

Family and neighbors unanimously described the Reed-Owens family as generous and hard-working members of the community. “They were a nice family,” said Heleeji. “I knew them for four years and never had any problems with them. All the problems in this neighborhood, we never had any from them. He watched my house for me, I watched his.”

While the deaths are certainly tragic, they are not accidental. A string of entirely avoidable precipitating circumstances led up to the event.

Reed was delinquent on his electricity bill, although the exact sum is not entirely clear. DTE Energy claims Reed was several years in arrears, for a total of $7,700. A member of Reed's family, who asked to remain anonymous, told WSWS reporters she believes those figures to be erroneous.

“Vaughn was giving other people money for their bills,” she said. “Why would he let his fall that far behind? They threatened to shut my power off when I was $200 behind, and they are trying to say they let him fall $7,000 behind until they shut his power off.”

The conditions of economic hardship in which the Reed-Owens family found itself are the result of broader social conditions beyond their control. Reed was laid off in January from his job as a salesperson at auto parts supplier ITW Balance Engineering. His bankruptcy court proceedings had just been finalized the day his power was shut off. If this information had gotten to DTE Energy on time, the utility would have been legally obligated to forego shutting off his energy.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jul2009/carb-j18.shtml

[Raine]

1. What a sad thing to happen. nt

[Hannah Bell]

2. not as sad as the death of a cat. apparently.

[vadawg]

4. rofl, truest words spoken, seems the cat rates more sympathy...

[EFerrari]

3. PG&E here in San Francisco is so horrible, I'm surprised we don't see

more of these deaths.

So needless. :(

[TahitiNut]

5. Blamed on an "address glitch" ... Mr. Reed filed for bankruptcy. DTE got address wrong.

Address glitch led to shutoff at family's home
Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

Detroit -- DTE officials acknowledged Friday that they had received notice weeks ago of a bankruptcy filing that could have prevented the power to a westside Detroit home from being shut off.

Confusion over the address led to the shut off, which contributed to the deaths of four people Thursday.

When the power was turned off to the home on Wednesday, the family placed a gas-powered generator in their basement to power medical equipment and air conditioners, resulting in the death of three children and their father.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090718/METRO01/907180366/Address-glitch-led-to-shutoff-at-family-s-home

:cry: :cry:

[Hannah Bell]

6. just an innocent mistake. not evil, like gutting a cat.

who could have known?

no one *wanted* to kill them.

[TahitiNut]

7. I can't even imagine the suffering of Marquetta Owens ... three beautiful kids and a good man. Gone.

:cry: :cry:

[Berry Cool]

8. This reminds me of the man who froze to death because his power was shut off

in Bay City. Not because he didn't have the money to pay the bills--but because he was a bit "out of it" and didn't get the checks in the mail, and had no one to help him do it and no one who looked in on him regularly to make sure he was OK. So the power company put a "limiter" on his power and he didn't even know it and died.

Horrible.

[tuckessee]

9. What kind of dumbass runs a generator in their basement?

The unfathomable stupidity of the two adults killed the others. How can people be so ignorant?

Darwin award winners for sure but they didn't have to take the others out with them.

[Hannah Bell]

10. thanks for weighing in.

[tuckessee]

11. At least I didn't mention cats.

I thought about it......

[Hannah Bell]

13. maybe if the cat died, there would be more recs & fewer unrecs.

[EFerrari]

15. There are always posters that blame the victims.

Two of my dearest friends died from carbon monoxide. They were traveling in Germany and something must have happened in the RV because they both knew all about that stuff. The mom and oldest son of a big family.

[Ilsa]

14. "How can people be so ignorant?" Well, it happens in America when

kids leave school early, or have other problems to worry about versus the learning about generators.

They are dead. And so are their kids. Don't be so hard on them.

[Hannah Bell]

17. no, it was their fault for not installing the proper equipment. but cats are innocents.

so sayeth the soft-hearted libs.

[lindisfarne]

18. I agree. I feel sad people have died, but you see this happen EVERY year after storms of various

kinds that knock out the power.
It's really pathetic that people don't think - would you run your car in the garage with the door shut?

And, if you have natural gas ANYTHING in your house, you need CO detectors, one near the source (furnace, etc.) and at least 1 (and maybe more if the house is big or bedrooms far apart) on each floor. These need to be replaced every 5 years - they used to be certified for longer but it was decided they shouldn't be and the old ones were essentially recertified for only 5 years.

Don't risk lives. Every winter in northern cities, you hear of at least a few different incidents of people dying because of CO. Get your furnace & hot water heater checked (they recommend annually but yes, that does get pricey).

[Kaleva]

12. Carbon monoxide detectors should have been a must

Every home should have them even if the occupants are not running improperly vented power generators in their homes.

[Obamanaut]

16. Every home should have them ESPECIALLY if one is going to use

improperly vented power generators

[lindisfarne]

19. Generators should never be indoors. Never. Unless they're specifically designed to be - and then the

venting matters, as you said.