POISON IN THE AIR
Fumes kill 4 in Queens house Cop finds parents, pals dead
AN NYPD SERGEANT, unable to contact his elderly parents, desperately raced to their home before being met by unimaginable tragedy — his parents and two others were dead, likely of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Sgt. Robert Hugel’s 83-year-old father, Jerry Hugel, was found Friday in the garage next to an idling Buick at the Queens home, sources said. His mother, Marie Hugel, 80, was found in a basement kitchen near the garage.
Walter Von Thadden, 76, believed to be a friend of the couple, was found in the first-floor living room, and a 70-year-old woman, identified as tenant Gloria Greco, was found near the top of the stairs on the second floor, sources said.
Police believe the car was left running accidentally at the home on 86th Ave. near 260th St. in Floral Park. Emergency workers responded to the home about 3:15 p.m., but it wasn’t immediately clear how long the victims had been dead.
“It looks like it was an accident, someone just forgot to turn the car off,” a source said. “The windows were air-tight, so there was nowhere for the gas to go.”
The friend and the tenant weren’t immediately identified. Neighbors were devastated by the deaths of the beloved Hugels.
“They were such nice people, it’s really sad,” said Melissa O’Reilly, whose parents have lived on the block for three decades. “They are a really nice family. Everyone loves them, just good people. Their kids are very nice.”
O’Reilly said Marie and Jerry Hugel were proud of their German heritage.
They visited Germany regularly and took part in traditional dancing events across the city.
“I grew up here; we always called them Mr. and Mrs. Hugel,” O’Reilly said. “They have lived in that house before my parents moved here, and that was 30 years ago.”
Another neighbor, Helga Harter, who has known the family for 40 years, said the pair were mem- bers of Schlierachtaler Stamm, a Bavarian Dance club located in nearby Frank- lin Square.
Pictures of the happy cou- ple on the club’s site and on Facebook show them dressed up in traditional Bavaria Dirndl dresses and Lederho- sen.
According to the group’s website, Jerry Hugel was presi- dent of the club from 1972-2013. Neighbors said Hugel worked as a beer sales- man The couple lived in the quaint Cape Cod-style twostory home and were fixtures in the neighborhood, according to friends. “They’ve been married for 60 years,” Harter said. “I’m shocked. The biggest shock of my life.” Harter said the Hugels raised five children in the home. The dad was proud of his garden, neighbors said. The victims had no signs of trauma and the Medical Examiner’s Office will determine how the four people died, police said.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas. Low-level or shortterm exposure can lead to headaches, nausea, dizziness, difficulty breathing and confusion. Longterm or higher-level exposure to carbon monoxide can be fatal.
Queens City Councilman Mark Weprin, who represents the area, said in a statement he was he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the deaths “due to carbon monoxide poisoning.”
“It is my hope that this tragedy sheds light on the importance of having, and maintaining, a carbon monoxide detector in all homes and apartments,” Weprin said.
Authorities were trying to determine if there
were any working carbon monoxide detectors in the home, an FDNY source said.
Under a 2009 law, homes built before Jan. 1, 2008 in New York are required to have battery-powered CO detectors. Newer homes must have the alarms hard-wired into the building.
Sgt. Robert Hugel, 57, a member of the NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit, had reportedly just finished his shift when he came to his parents’ home in southeast Queens. Cops were posted outside of his home late Friday, saying the 31-year veteran was in no condition to speak.
The horrific Queens tragedy follows a rash of CO-related deaths in recent months.
In December, two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a New Jersey recording studio. The toxic gas made 12 others — including musicians — sick at Streets Rehearsals Studios as they struggled to escape the industrial building in Passaic.
One man died and 27 others were hospitalized as the result of a carbon monoxide leak at the Legal Sea Foods restaurant at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station on Long Island in February of last year. Steven Nelson, 55, the manager of the restaurant was killed by the gas.
In February, residents of a 60-unit apartment building in Washington Heights were forced to evacuate into a snowstorm and scramble to find shelter because of a carbon monoxide leak.
On Monday, a man and his seven children were found dead in a home in Princess Anne, Md., where they apparently were poisoned in their sleep while running a generator after a power to their home had been cut off by a utility company.
Delmarva Power, the utility, said it turned off electricity for safety reasons March 25, although relatives said the family was behind on its power bills.
In Floral Park, neighbors struggled to comprehend the loss.
“It’s sad. It’s upsetting. They were nice people, quiet people,” O’Reilly said.