An investigation is underway in New York City after authorities uncovered dozens of decomposing bodies in unrefrigerated trucks outside a funeral home.
In addition to being stacked in the U-Haul trucks, there were also reportedly bodies lying on the floor inside the facility. Sources told the New York Post that police discovered about 40 to 60 corpses when they arrived Wednesday at the scene outside Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services in Brooklyn.
Sgt. Jessica McRorie, a spokeswoman with the New York Police Department, told the Washington Examiner that police responded to a 911 call at about 11:30 a.m. She said officers were able to determine that the trucks were owned by a nearby funeral home. McRorie said that the New York State Department of Health and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection were conducting the investigation into the discovery.
The funeral home began storing bodies improperly after its freezer stopped working, a law enforcement source told the New York Times.
When the Washington Examiner called Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services, an unidentified man answered the phone.
“Why don’t you ask the crematory and the cemetery why they don’t take the bodies from the funeral home?” the individual said. “Unless you’re asking me to bury your loved one, do not call my place of business.”
The NYPD was reportedly contacted after neighbors near the funeral home reported a foul odor coming from the property. One man who owns a nearby property, John DiPietro, told the New York Post he had seen bodies being placed in the trucks as the coronavirus continues to ravage New York.
“You don’t respect the dead that way. That could have been my father, my brother,” DiPietro said.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called the discovery “unacceptable.”
“We need to bring in funeral directors, morgues, [medical examiners], clergies,” Adams said, “… When you find bodies in trucks like this throughout our city, treating them in an undignified manner, that’s unacceptable.”
New York City has seen an enormous boom in the number of people dying since the coronavirus pandemic began. In March, the federal government sent refrigerated trucks to act as interim mortuaries as the city grappled with hundreds of coronavirus deaths. In nearby Long Island, officials in Suffolk County made the decision to store corpses in a farm refrigerator if their facilities became overwhelmed.
UPDATE: Erin Silk, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Health, told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that an investigation into the funeral home is underway.
“An investigation by order of the State Health Commissioner has been initiated to immediately address reports of these unacceptable conditions to ensure public health and restore dignity to the decedents,” Silk said in a statement. “Funeral homes and morgues must be accountable for their actions or lack thereof, and we will do everything under our authority to protect health and safety.”
