THEY KILLED MY MOM
Daughter blames 5-hour power outage at Brooklyn complex for mother’s death
A woman who relied on a ventilator died when the power shut down early Sunday in her sprawling Brooklyn apartment complex.
Elizabeth Ramos, 57, who suffered from respiratory issues and asthma since she was a teen, was fast asleep in her 16th-floor home in Starrett City when her ventilator and oxygen filter switched off after the power failed around 4:45 a.m., said Ashley Ramos, her grieving daughter.
“I’m like, ‘Ma, the lights went off but don’t worry, you’re going to be OK, you’re going to be OK,’” Ramos said. “And I already knew. She looked at me like her anxiety was already starting to progress.”
Ramos hooked her mom up to a portable oxygen tank and gave her Albuterol, which is used to treat asthma. “She took the whole thing,” she said.
But the oxygen tank and the pill didn’t save her.
“When she was done she was like, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die.’”
The daughter — who wouldn’t give her age — called 911 and was told by the dispatcher to put her mother on the ground and give her CPR.
By the time EMS arrived at her apartment inside the East New York complex, Elizabeth Ramos was dead.
“It’s all because of these lights in here that went off,” her daughter wept. “If these lights would’ve never went off, she would’ve been fine.”
FDNY Deputy Chief Edward Bobb later told reporters Ramos may have died before the power went out.
“There were obvious signs of death,” Bobb said. “It seems the person had been deceased for a while, but it’s currently being investigated by the ME (medical examiner).”
But Ramos’ daughter was steadfast in blaming the power outage. “My mom died because of the lights in Starrett,” she said.
The complex operates its own power system. Brooksville says it plans to revamp it.
“Brooksville will continue to work diligently to make these sorts of outages a thing of the past,” the statement said.
But that’s too late for Ramos’ family.
“Starrett has done nothing. They killed my mom,” Ashley Ramos said. “She’s complained about it so much. She said one day she’s scared it might happen, and that’s what happened.”
Five people also suffered minor injuries in the blackout.
One person was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and two were treated at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, the FDNY said. Two others refused medical attention.
Firefighters rescued at least six more people from broken elevators — a difficult task given the large number of buildings, Deputy Chief Michael Ajello said.
“The sheer size of the complex, the number of buildings, the amount of elevators, over 100 — it’s a difficult task and staffing-intensive task,” Ajello said.
Power was restored to all residential units by 10 a.m.
President Trump reportedly had a 4% stake in Starrett City Associates, which sold the 46-building, 5,881-apartment complex in May to a new owner, Brooksville Co.
The complex — rebranded Spring Creek Towers, but still known by tenants under its old name — has suffered multiple blackouts in the past few years. A July 2017 outage lasted several hours and stranded 30 people in elevators.