The Chicago buildings department has fined the owner of a senior care home where three people died in May during a heat wave that caused temperatures to rise into the low 90s.
Janice Reed, 68, Gwendolyn Osborne, 72, and Delores McNeely, 76, all died on May 14 at the James Sneider Apartments, where the heater was left on. Their autopsies linked their deaths directly to the heat wave in the building.
The Chicago Sun-Times adds that the owner of the same residential property was penalized after an examination by the buildings department uncovered 11 code violations, two of which were from a rooftop air conditioning ‘chiller’ that did not appear acceptable for use on the exterior of the structure.
According to the newspaper’s records, the department decided that the problems identified in the city’s initial inspection had been resolved, and a second inspection determined that “no unsafe and hazardous situations” existed.
At that time, the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, a non-profit company that owns and operates the flats, had, among other things, furnished each renter with a separate air conditioning unit.
Mike Puccinelli, a spokesperson for the buildings department, stated that the punishment was imposed before city authorities had access to autopsy reports indicating that the deaths of three women whose bodies were discovered on May 14 were caused by the heat.
The Chicago Department of Buildings has penalized the owner of James Sneider Apartments, a care home where three ladies died in May during a heat wave that caused temperatures to reach the low 90s.
He explained that the fine was entirely based on the infractions discovered during the inspection, and that the building department would only impose fines for such violations of the city’s building code.
Puccinelli noted that autopsy data are irrelevant to the department’s construction inspections and whether or not a structure conforms with the Chicago Building Code.
“Any form of medical document could be relevant in a private civil claim filed by the injured victim or their representative against the property owner,” he stated.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office determined on August 11, a week after the fine was imposed, that the primary cause of death for Janice Reed, 68, Gwendolyn Osborne, 72, and Delores McNeely, 76, was “environmental heat exposure due to a hot residential building during a heat-related weather event,” according to spokeswoman Brittany Hill.
The Sun-Times claimed that it spoke with the Chicago Police Agency about the incident, and a spokesperson for the department stated that the inquiry into the deaths of the ladies was deemed non-criminal.
The nonprofit’s president and CEO, Hipolito ‘Paul’ Roldan, claimed he was unaware of the autopsy results until the Sun-Times inquired about them. He declined to comment further, citing litigation brought by the women’s families.
The deaths of the ladies caused the City Council to approve new cooling rules for bigger residential buildings, including a mandate that air conditioning systems must work if the heat index exceeds 80 degrees.