Alone & elderly, he falls through cracks Hypothermia death spurs state probe

PETER KNOLL lived a life of exceptional luxury and extraordinary leisure.

He once bought a $290,000 Aston Martin on a whim. He collected gold-plated watches worth nearly as much.

The son of a furniture magnate, Knoll is believed to have never worked a day in his life.

But all of that privilege couldn’t shield him from a tragic fate: Knoll froze to death inside his multimillion-dollar Upper East Side townhouse this winter.

His official cause of death was hypothermia. Police found Knoll in bed in his heatless E. 78th St. brownstone steps from Central Park and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s mansion.

The story of Knoll’s unlikely death is tangled and complicated.

But at its core it reveals the vulnerability of someone who is older, ill and isolated, someone who is struggling to take care of himself and unwilling or unable to seek help.

Knoll’s death also shines a light on the fraught relationship between public utilities and the city they serve — and the startling lack of accountability when tragedies occur.

It has already investigation.

The absence of heat in his five-story home was something he never talked about to his small circle of friends and acquaintances — but it wasn’t a secret to all.

Con Edison knew Knoll had no gas. The utility had, in fact, known he had been without gas since 2014.

But that dire information never made it to a city agency or nonprofit organization equipped to check on the 75-year-old grandfather.

So Knoll languished in a gap in the city’s safety net. In a cruel twist, the fact that he lived in a private home he owned made him even more vulnerable, experts say.

Older, ailing residents living in apartment buildings have a cluster of neighbors to rely on when heating problems arise and city agencies like the Department of Housing Preservation and Development ready to swoop in.

“When you’re frail and living alone in a private house and you don’t have anyone checking on you and you don’t have access to services, it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” said Shyvonne Noboa of Sunnyside Community Services in Queens.

lll Even in the 21st century in one of the richest cities in the world, an average of 15 people freeze to death each year.

The phenomenon conjures images of homeless people or wayward drunks succumbing to the extreme cold on park benches and bus stops.

But those deaths only tell part of the story.

Some 30% of hypothermia victims die after becoming exposed to frigid temperatures while indoors, according to the Health Department.

The percentage was far greater this year. At least five New Yorkers froze to death in January alone. Three of them, including Knoll, were found inside their homes, according to the city medical examiner’s office.

A 75-year-old retired NYPD officer died of hypothermia inside triggered a state his ranch home in Middle Village, Queens.

Neighbors were flummoxed by the news. The man kept to himself and appeared to be a hoarder, but he received regular shipments of heating oil just like everyone else on the block.

“It’s not like he couldn’t pay for the heat,” said a 45-year-old neighbor. “So to hear it was hypothermia, I don’t understand.”

The Daily News is withholding the man’s name at his family’s request.

The third victim was a 73-yearold woman who lived in a two-story red-brick home in Soundview, the Bronx.

Dorothy Roque had been living alone for the last couple of years following the death of her husband. Her longtime neighbors on Underhill Ave. knew almost nothing about her except that she regularly went to a church they couldn’t identify.

“She was a very private person,” one neighbor said. “She wouldn’t even walk on the sidewalk. She’d walk on the street — not to talk to people, I guess.”

Attempts to reach Roque’s family were unsuccessful.

Con Edison, after giving the basic details of Knoll’s case, refused to provide any information on Roque’s.

Dr. Barbara Sampson, the city’s chief medical examiner, said the cases reflect how “seniors are at heightened risk of danger when in extreme heat or cold spaces.”

These preventable tragedies typically go unnoticed, vanishing into data charts rather than sparking a search for answers.

Unlike construction accidents or child abuse cases, hypothermia deaths almost never lead to a followup investigation.

A ruling is made by the medical examiner’s office. The basic details are passed along to the Health Department. And that’s the end of it.

No city or state agency regularly probes how the incidents occur or how they can be prevented.

The Public Service Commission, which regulates state utility companies, can investigate a utility following a cold-related death.

But such an investigation hasn’t taken place since 2001.

The reason is simple — and troubling. The commission almost never learns about hypothermia fatalities.

It relies on reports from the utility companies, which