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Tragedy: Mass. Boy Dies of Carbon Monoxide After Trying To Stay Warm In Running Car

Feb. 10, 2013 8:52am Becket Adams

BOSTON (TheBlaze/AP) — An 11-year-old Massachusetts boy died of carbon monoxide poisoning Saturday after being overcome as he sat in a running car to keep warm, while his father was shoveling snow to get the car out of a snow bank.

Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said the boy was helping his father shovel the snow in the Dorchester neighborhood but got cold, so his father started the car and the boy got inside the vehicle. MacDonald said the car exhaust was covered by a snow bank, causing the fumes to collect in the car.

“I don’t know how long the boy was in the car, at some point the father was still working and was unaware of the boy’s condition,” said Boston firefighter Octavius Rowe, who lives nearby and went to help. “So very, very unfortunate.”

When the boy was overcome by the fumes, the father went into respiratory arrest and emergency workers took both to Boston Medical Center, officials said. The boy was pronounced dead at the hospital. No names were released.

Rowe said he was at home when he noticed a commotion in the street. He went outside and saw the father leaning against a pile of snow, Rowe said.

“I came over to the car where it all started and the father appeared to have lost consciousness,” Rowe said. “He was semi-conscious and laying on the snow bank, and I wanted to first get him off that cold surface.”

Rowe said he put the man on a flat surface to revive him. He said the boy apparently had been taken into an apartment building where a woman was administering CPR. Paramedics from the fire department and Emergency Medical Services arrived and provided oxygen to the father to stabilize him and tried to engage him in conversation to keep him alert.

“He was responsive so we were able to, at least, get him up, get him to the stairs. He did say, `My son, my son,’ so he knew his son was involved or was in distress,” Rowe said. “We were talking to him. He was moaning, but the only discernible thing that he said was `My son.’”

Rowe said his understanding was that a snow plow had come up the street and had pushed snow back onto the bank, which then impacted the car’s exhaust pipe.

Also, fire officials said a man found in a car with the engine running in Mattapan on Saturday evening died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to media reports. The Boston Globe said officials believe the car’s tailpipe was blocked by snow, allowing the gas to build up.

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Comments (31)

toto
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 12:44pm
Stock up on ThermaCare and kept the boxes ready for emergencies at home and in cars during the winter months, lives might be saved and certainly made a little more comfortable. Their latest warmers last as long a twelve hours.

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SpeakUpNow
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 4:59am
Terrible, terrible tragedy. It is hard enough to have to lose a child but to know that you are to a degree somewhat responsible in the event makes it exponentially painful. This family does not need our criticism or hindsight but rather our prayers. It is all too easy to sit on the sidelines after the fact. Nothing anyone can say is going to make their burden of loss lighter in the days and weeks to come. Only faith in a higher power can lift them from this painful pit.

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Lt_Scrounge
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 8:21pm
Growing up in snow country, one of the first things we learned was to clean out around the exhaust pipe before starting the car.

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Sicialian Eyeball
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 5:55pm
Why didnt he just leave the kid in the house, while he shoveled? Just saying… With that much snow,it was going to take a while.

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- Ditto Head
  Posted on February 11, 2013 at 2:48am
  Yes, very thoughful analysis. A CHILD IS DEAD, A-HOLE! How about a word of prayer for the family instead of publicly criticizing the father’s accidental mistake. Go check your eye…there’s a beam in it.
  
  Report this comment
RodT82721
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 11:25am
Sometimes lifes little lessons are very harsh.
I don’t understand that anyone that is old enough to hold a drivers liscense, does not know that the exhaust will kill you.
The child paid the price for dad’s stupidity, that’s what happens sometimes.

Now if he had got rid of the planet destroying, gas burner and bought one of Barry’s Volts, this would never have happened.
No exhuast, and the Volt is useless in snow anyway, so they could have stayed inside and waited for the sun to come out. The snow and ice would have to be gone for the Volt to be used.
No exhaust, one of the Volt’s only good features.

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- Captain77
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 12:23pm
  You idiot! It is not uncommon for people to sit in an idling car as it warms up. 99.999% of the time this is a safe thing to do. What is uncommon however is that the exhaust was plugged up, making it unable for the exhaust to escape like it normally does. Unfortunately, instead of escaping to the outside of the car, it went inside. This is a tragic mistake many people are apt to make, and to insult a grieving father for a mistake that wasn’t even really his fault is a pathetic and weak thing to do.
  
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- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 12:40pm
  That is one of the most legitimately offensive and ridiculously stupid things I’ve ever read.
  
  Report this comment
- GoodStuff
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 1:23pm
  “The child paid the price for dad’s stupidity,”
  
  Did you read the article? Here, I’ll post it for you because you’re too lazy:
  
  “snow plow had come up the street and had pushed snow back onto the bank, which then impacted the car’s exhaust pipe.”
  
  The government effed up…as usual.
  
  Report this comment
- nzkiwi
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:26pm
  It was an easy mistake to make Rodt. Any of us, without the benefit of this story, might have accidentally done the same thing – if we were honest with ourselves. Your post was callous to an unpalatable degree. I can’t imagine how I would cope if I lost one of my small daughters.
  
  He will be going through unimaginable hell about now and I have the utmost sympathy and compassion for him and his family.
  
  Report this comment
- Ditto Head
  Posted on February 11, 2013 at 2:52am
  @Rod
  See my above post.
  It is addressed to you, too.
  
  Report this comment
Thinman
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 11:05am
The tragedy here is the people that were watching the snow out of their windows and did nothing to help a man and his child. Boston, nice people there, not.

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- docfix
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 1:12pm
  How do you know people were watching and “doing nothing?” It’s not unusual for someone to be shoveling their car out of a snow bank. Do you run outside with a shovel every time you see someone clearing their cars off? There weren’t any indications of trouble. Someone shoveling their car, 11 year old boy sitting in the car. Where’s the emergency compelling “everyone” to rush to his aid?
  
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jungle J
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 10:12am
A lesson to all of us…additionally, always crack a window in your car while sitting in it in the winter.

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jungle J
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 10:11am
The ignorance of the common man is multiple. We have all done things out of ignorance…..only a confirmed hater would rail against this poor man.

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- hostiletimes
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 12:08pm
  agreed!!!!!!!!!!
  
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Saff SGT
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:53am
The exaust pipe has to be clear so it can exit the gases. If snow or other debri blocks it fumes will escape inside the car. The best tight exaust will leak when you block the exit. Always crack a window to vent the cars inside no matter how cold it is when the engine is on. very sad story here

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- DougHuffman
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 10:01am
  @ SAFE SGT “…fumes will escape inside the car.” Really? Effin’ Non-Conscious Occifers.
  
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DougHuffman
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:38am
Mother Nature’s right-hand man Darwin works in mysterious ways. It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature.

Good point, that we regard the risks of arising as acceptable but rail against similar risks in every day life.

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- jungle J
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 10:13am
  Hate is your foundational element.
  
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- DougHuffman
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 5:18pm
  Indeed! Without love there can be no hate. FOAD!
  
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vandy
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:28am
My God, My God, My God. That Dad, the pain, the anguish. Father please assure this man that his son is in paradise and grant him some measure of peace.

My heart breaks….

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- Ceefour
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:51am
  He is sitting at God’s table right now eating breakfast++
  
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HOOT_OWL
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:21am
How many children of idiots must die before we remedy this .

With all the protection devices and idiot lights on vehicles ..

You would think someone would have installed a carbon monoxide detector alarm by now .

While their at it , they should put another alarm in that screams.

Hey Moron..! It’s a thousand degrees in here ..DONT leave your child or dog in the car..!
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DZ-015
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:19am
With a snowfall as deep as this was, such tragic events can happen. The high winds associated with the storm could also blow bricks down a chimney and cause carbon monoxide from the furnace to build up inside the building. Get a detector.

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- tajloc
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:32am
  Those screaming for a detector probably want the GOV to step in. Lets be clear you don’t need a detector….you need common sense. This tragedy is obvious. Two feet of snow can drift 5 feet high and shut off all kinds of things. A kerosene heater can burn up all the O2 in a trailer.
  Plan your own life and take charge.
  Rom 8:28
  
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- GoodStuff
  Posted on February 10, 2013 at 1:26pm
  “you don’t need a detector”
  
  Yes, you do. Every house does. Stop your nonsense.
  
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LEFTIST_CLOWNS_AND_FAR_RIGHT_JOKERS
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:18am
You take your chances with life every time you wake. There are knowns and there are unknowns that will take your life or that of someone you love. Please try to avoid the knowns…

Sad.

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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:14am
.
Feel for his Dad, but the child will never know suffering……..

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Eastinfection
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:14am
When i was a kid, the teenager next door backed into a snow bank in his driveway, with his car running, so he & his girlfriend could “make out” for a while. They both died.

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:14am
God keep all the others caught up in the snowstorm safe and hale and whole. Be with the families of those who have lost a loved one.

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