[gun-fucious]

Since Snowfall, Carbon Monoxide Has Killed at Least 10 in Maryland

By Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 21, 2003; Page B07


At least 10 Marylanders have suffered fatal carbon monoxide poisoning while sitting in idling, snowbound motor vehicles since last weekend's blizzard, authorities said yesterday. The number is so unusually high that the state's chief medical examiner said the fatalities will be the focus of a morbidity study by his office.

In all the cases, the victims started the engines, apparently to keep warm, authorities said. They said the undersides of the vehicles were enclosed by snow, trapping exhaust fumes that seeped into the passenger areas.

The medical examiner, David R. Fowler, said that to his knowledge, in previous snowstorms, few if any people in the state died of carbon monoxide poisoning. To determine why so many people died from inhaling exhaust fumes this week, he said, "we're going to go back and look at every single snowstorm in the past 15 years or more."

Seven of the 10 deaths were in Baltimore. "We've had snow in Baltimore before," Fowler said. "Why was this storm different?"

Authorities said Tuesday that at least five victims found unconscious in motor vehicles -- including four children -- had died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and that two other dead people, both adults, were suspected of having succumbed to exhaust fumes. Yesterday, Fowler said autopsies found that the two adults' deaths were caused by carbon monoxide and that three more such fatalities had been confirmed.

The three newly reported victims include Allen Adams, 16, and Johnathan Thomas, 20, both of Baltimore. Police said the two left Thomas's home Monday to smoke marijuana in a car and later were found dead in the vehicle.

The victims whose deaths were reported Tuesday included two boys in Baltimore, ages 11 and 12, a 4-year-old Aspen Hill girl, and a 12-year-old boy in Mount Airy, which straddles Carroll and Frederick counties.

"All of these were preventable deaths," Fowler said .

After a blizzard hit the Northeast in early January 1996, a paper published by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported three carbon monoxide deaths in Philadelphia and 22 cases in New York City. The report did not mention any such deaths in Maryland.

J.B. Hanson, a spokesman for Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said officials know of a few more suspected victims of carbon monoxide poisoning in the state. But because some roads remain impassible because of snow, local authorities have been unable to transport the bodies to the medical examiner's office for autopsies.

In Virginia, Loudoun County authorities said a 37-year-old man was found dead Monday from carbon monoxide poisoning. They said John Kesner, of Fort Ashby, W.Va., apparently stayed in his car with the engine running after the vehicle had backed into a snowbank. The car was out of gas when Kesner was found.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38156-2003Feb20.html

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

i believe my CDC accidental gun death for children research,
revealed 15 kids accidentally killed in 10 years in MD

let me check:

1981 - 1998, Maryland
Unintentional Firearm Deaths
All Races, Both Sexes, Ages 0 to 14
ICD-9 Codes: E922

Age Group------Number of Deaths
00-04------------------------2*
05-09------------------------3*
10-14------------------------10*
Total------------------------15*
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate9.html


i have not heard of any charges pending against the negligent parents this week

it would seem a "Smart" car in park should be able to sense a lethal emission accumulation

[QKRTHNU]

Good comparison.

Go hit some Anti boards with the data. Not that they'll actually understand the logic.

[Blackhawk]

Excellent comparison!

Four children dead in one 3 day snowstorm from cars in Baltimore alone versus less than 1 per year due to firearms for the whole state of MD.

Obviously, MD needs to ban cars AND snowstorms since the combination is far more dangerous than guns. :rolleyes:

[gun-fucious]

if a Maryland citizen left a gun where a kid could find it in the home, and an accident ocurred, the offender would be criminally charged

but leaving yer kids in a running car, in a snowbank is just an unfortunate accident?

[MitchSchaft]

But how many lives did those heaters save? The ones that worked I mean. :neener:

[Baba Louie]

Ban Carbon Monoxide (or at least make it very difficult to have around) in MD.

Do It For the Children

Adios