Neither police nor the Fire Department released the
identity of the man, who was taken to the hospital after a worker from the
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, who had come to retrieve the body,
realized the man wasnt dead.
Because his name was not released, his condition Tuesday was not known.
Fire Chief Michael Grant confirmed an investigation was under way to
determine what occurred during the call in the 200 block of Greene Street,
but declined to release any more information.
"It wouldnt be appropriate for me to
comment on the circumstances," Grant said. "Thats
what Im investigating."
This much is known: The police and fire departments were dispatched to the
address in Wooster Square about 6 a.m. on a water emergency after the
landlord called 911, concerned about running water inside an apartment,
police said.
Firefighters on an aerial truck managed to gain entry and found the man in a
cold bath. Police later said they believed it was an attempt at suicide.
They called for a fire ambulance and fire engine for medical assistance.
Before the units arrived, the ranking fire officer at the scene, an
emergency medical technician, pronounced the man dead and canceled the
engine company, according to people familiar with the preliminary
investigation.
The fire ambulance continued to the location, but it wasnt
immediately clear if medics on the unit were able to examine the body
because the apartment was considered a possible crime scene.
The Police Departments Bureau of
Identification, the crime scene unit, was summoned to take pictures and
collect evidence and detectives responded. It wasnt
until about four hours later, after the person from the medical examiners
office arrived, that the worker observed the man gasp, according to several
individuals with knowledge of the case.
The cold water could have played a role in the mistake. If the man were
submerged for an extended time, his body temperature would have dropped and
dramatically reduced his heart rate, making his pulse extremely difficult to
detect.
Because of that, in cases of systemic hypothermia, state guidelines instruct
basic life support medics to assess circulation for up to 30 seconds because
"the rate may be extremely slow."
"Do not presume death in the unresponsive, non-breathing, pulseless patient
with suspected hypothermia," emphasizes life support protocol posted on the
New Haven Sponsor Hospital Program Web site.
The sponsor hospital program is jointly run by Yale-New Haven Hospital and
the Hospital of Saint Raphael and oversees EMS agencies that serve Greater
New Haven.
Contacted by phone, director Albert Gambino indicated he was aware of
Tuesdays situation, but said he was
unsure what the role of the sponsor hospital program would play in the
investigation.
He referred other questions to Grant.
Rob Smuts, the citys chief
administrative officer, also was aware of the incident, but said he wasnt
briefed on details.
"Its obviously a source of concern.
You do occasionally read about these things happening," he said. He said the
probe would look at two things: How the mistake was made in the first place,
and how it took so long to detect.