Police officials discovered 100 bodies piled in unrefrigerated trucks outside a funeral home in Brooklyn Wednesday after officials responded to 911 complaints from neighbors with the regards to a foul smell that has been around for weeks.
Authorities found 2 unrefrigerated U-Haul box trucks being used to store the corpses outside of Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in Flatlands following neighbors filming body bags being carried into them in the recent days.
Police found the funeral home had rented 4 trucks. Some corpses were also discovered lying on the facility's floor, according to law enforcement sources.
According to one anonymous official, the freezer at the facility halted, forcing them to make use of unrefrigerated vehicles for the decomposing bodies which among them were COVID-19 victims.
Cops quickly made an effort to cordon off the busy Utica Avenue block, said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who arrived at the funeral home on Wednesday afternoon.
No criminal charges have been made.
The Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home was cited for their failure to control the odors.
Workers clothed in protective gear appeared on Wednesday in the Brooklyn neighborhood, transferring the bodies into a refrigerated vehicle.
It was unclear how long the corpses had been stockpiled in the U-Haul trucks.
New York City funeral homes have been in a bout of difficulty as there have been at least 18,000 people fatalities since late March. Funeral homes said they are experiencing weeks-long backlogs to bury or cremate the corpses.
The bodies were piled on top of each other in the trucks. Fluid leaking from inside resulted in a foul smell and caused neighboring store owners to call the authorities, as stated by sources.
The funeral home was able to procure a larger, refrigerated truck later in the day, according to an official.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday labeled the funeral home's actions "unconscionable."
According to the Democrat at a news briefing, "I have no idea in the world how any funeral home could let this happen." He argued that officials at the home should have asked the state regulators or even city police for assistance if it was being overwhelmed.
The Associated Press reported that the deceased were stockpiled on ice.
New York City set up temporary morgues
The New York State Department of Health, which supervises funeral homes, was also called to the incident, in the borough's Flatlands section. They surmised whether the funeral home was managing the remains appropriately. Then, they issued two summonses, said a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
"I saw 15 bodies in the U-Haul box truck stacked up on one another, and more in the other," according to an officer at the scene. "They stored them right out on the street."
Police officials found the bodies in different stages of decomposition.
"This funeral home is over-capacitated with human remains and that is true," said Dr. David Penepent, a funeral director and a professor at SUNY Canton. He was sent by the state to assist in the operation.
According to Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President, "While this situation is under investigation, we should not have what we have right now, with trucks lining the streets filled with bodies."
He added that passersby saw some leakage and detected a smell coming from a truck.
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