*
**MECAP reports filed electronically
Asphyxiation/Suffocation
*A 14-day-old female infant was found lying supine in her crib unresponsive with
the infant size comforter pulled up over her face. The mother had fed her and
swaddled her in a receiving blanket. She had two infant size comforters covering
her from her chest down, while placed supine in her crib. The mother discovered
her with one comforter pulled up over her face. Life-saving efforts were
performed by EMS to the hospital, but were not successful. The cause of death
was suffocation from unsafe sleep environment. (Jefferson County Medical
Examiner’s Office, St. Louis, MO)
*A 3-week-old male decedent was placed on his back, face up, in his bassinet
after feeding. He was placed on top of an adult sized pillow in his bassinet. He
was found leaning on the right side with his face down where the bassinet wall
and pillow meet. The cause of death was positional asphyxia. (New York City,
OCME, NY)
A 20-month-old male pulled a gas stove over onto himself while his parents were
asleep. His 3-year-old sibling may have assisted him in pulling the stove over.
The cause of death was traumatic asphyxia. (Saint Louis County Health, St.
Louis, MO)
A 2-month-old female infant slept in a full size bed with her mother, father, and
older brother. After feeding the infant, she was put to sleep on her back, on the
mother’s left arm. The mother found her “blue” in the face, unresponsive, lying
prone in the bed. The decedent had no blankets covering her face. The police
noted that on the bed was a comforter, 4 large pillows, two throw pillows, a
decorative pillow and 2 small blankets on top of a fitted sheet. The cause of death
was suffocation/asphyxiated on adult-type bedding material and/or overlay by
bed sharing. (Travis County ME, Austin, TX)
4
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
*A 55-year-old male died of carbon monoxide poisoning while he slept in a trailer.
He was trying to keep himself warm with a heater that was connected to a 5
gallon propane tank. He sealed himself in the trailer and died from carbon
monoxide poisoning. (Santa Cruz County Coroner, Santa Cruz, CA)
*A 39-year-old male was found unresponsive in a shed when his mother went to
check on him. The decedent went to listen to music in the shed. The mother
discovered him sitting unresponsive on a chair. She also discovered that the
propane heater was on and she turned it off. The cause of death was carbon
monoxide poisoning. (Michigan Public Health Institute)
*A 38-year-old female was found unresponsive on the floor of a tent during a
camping trip. A grill was placed into the tent during the evening for warmth. The
decedent was pronounced at the scene. The cause of death was carbon
monoxide poisoning. (Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner, Akeny, IA)**
Submersion/Drowning
*A 20-month-old male drowned in a four foot deep above ground pool. He was
reportedly with family members in his home when he was not seen for
approximately five to seven minutes. Upon searching, he was discovered fully
submerged in a four-foot deep above-ground pool. EMS efforts to resuscitate
were unsuccessful and he was pronounced at the hospital. The cause of death
was drowning. (Laurens County Coroner’s Office, Greenville, SC)
A 3-year-old male drowned in a neighborhood pool. The decedent was not
wearing any flotation device in the 1-2 feet deep children’s area pool. The pool
was divided into two sections, children’s and adult section with a safety net. The
uncle went to check on him and he was found in the adult section of the pool
approximate 3 feet deep. The cause of death was drowning. (Travis County
Medical Examiner, Austin, TX)
An 88-year-old female was doing her morning exercises inside a community
swimming pool. She was found face down in the water, floating at the shallow
end of the pool. She had a barbell in her hand. The cause of death was
drowning. (West Palm Beach Medical Examiner’ Office, West Palm Beach, FL)
5
Electrocution
A 17-year-old male decedent was standing in a tree picking mangos via the use of
an aluminum pool skimmer pole. The pole came in contact with an electrical wire
containing over 7,000 volts. The cause of death was electrocution. (West Palm
Beach Medical Examiner’s Office, West Palm Beach, Florida)
Fire
*Two people were discovered dead in a house fire. The fire originated near an
enclosed porch. The fire Investigator stated that a burnt mattress was also found
on the enclosed porch. The fire marshal mentioned the probable accidental
ignition source was the mishandling of smoking materials. (Summit County
Medical Examiner’s Office, Akron, OH)
A 48-year-old female was cooking in her kitchen when her clothes caught fire.
She was able to call the fire department. When the fire department arrived, they
found the victim fully engulfed in flames, on the kitchen floor. (Santa Clara
Medical Examiner’s Office, San Jose, California)
A 79-year-old male was mowing weeds on his property near a creek bank. The
left wheels of the lawn tractor went off the edge of the bank and down a 4-5 foot
drop. The tractor rolled into the creek pinning the victim underneath the tractor.
The tractor then caught on fire and burned the victim. Family members attempted
to free the victim but he was under the tractor for about 20 minutes. He was
airlifted to an area hospital where he died later that day. (Dane County Medical
Examiner’s Office, Madison, WI)**
Tip-over
*A 2-year-old male died from a television tip-over when he attempted to retrieve
candy that was on top of a dresser. Both the dresser and the 32-inch television
tipped forward, and fell upon the decedent. The victim’s mother responded from
an adjacent room, lifted the television off of the victim and called 911. The cause
of death was blunt force head trauma. (Rhode Island State Medical Examiner’s
Office, Smithfield, RI)
*A 2-year-old male was climbing the drawers of a dresser that had a television on
top. As he was climbing, the dresser started to tip over, and the 25-inch
television fell off the dresser, onto the child striking his head. The child was
transported to an area hospital where surgery was performed. Following surgery,
his condition worsened and he died three months later. The cause of death was
blunt force head injury. (Office of the Medical Examiner, Milwaukee, WI)
6
Falls
An 82-year-old female fell to the floor backwards while using a walker. The cause
of death was closed head injuries due to fall from standing position with
contributories of anticoagulant (warfarin) therapy for atrial fibrillation. (Onondaga
County Medical Examiner’s Office, Syracuse, New York) **
A 61-year-old male decedent fell to the floor over his grandson’s toys at home. He
sustained a left femur fracture from the fall incident. He was transported to the
hospital by EMS where he later died. The cause of death was multiple organ
failure due to acute renal failure and pulmonary effusion from a recent left femur
fracture with rhabdomyolysis. (Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, Cleveland,
OH)
A 29-year-old male decedent had suffered a fall while wearing his roller skates.
The cause of death was complications of fracture of right ankle and broken tibia.
(Tallahassee Medical Examiner’s Office, Tallahassee, FL)
All Terrain Vehicles (ATV)
*A 20-year-old male decedent and 18-year-old female passenger was riding a four
wheel ATV on a county road. The victim failed to negotiate a curve in the
roadway and drove 50 feet over an embankment. The ATV and the surviving
passenger landed on the embankment. The victim continued to fall another 150
feet down the embankment, coming to a stop against a tree. The victim was
pronounced at the scene. He was wearing a helmet. (Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner, State of West Virginia, Charleston, WV)
*A 21-year-old male decedent was involved in a four wheel ATV rollover accident.
He went over a sand dune and the ATV rolled over. The cause of death was head
injury, blunt force trauma. (Imperial County Coroner’s Office, El Centro, CA)
*A 2 year-old male was sitting in front of his dad on a four wheel ATV as they
went around the yard for a ride. They were traveling at a low rate of speed as
they approached a cement slab when they were going to the park on the ATV. As
they started to drive up onto the slab, the ATV rose up and flipped over
backwards landing on top of the 2 year old. The child was airlifted to a hospital
where he was pronounced. The cause of death was blunt force trauma. (Brown
County Medical Examiner’s Office, Green Bay, WI)
7
A 30-year-old male decedent was involved in a three wheeled ATV accident at
night. He struck a tree branch which caused him to roll over and eject from the
vehicle. The tree branch had apparently fallen on the roadway; however, the
vehicle did not have any headlights. The decedent did not have a helmet. He
skidded on his head 18 feet as measured by the Police Department. The cause of
death was blunt impact to head, trunk, and extremities with skeletal and brain
injuries. (Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, Cleveland, OH)
*A 2-year-old male decedent was riding on a four wheeled ATV with his mother
along with his 1-year-old sister when they crashed into a tree. The impact ejected
all three of them from the vehicle. As a result of the fall, the 2 year old decedent
sustained severe head damages. The cause of death was head trauma. (Office of
the Chief Medical Examiner, Roanoke, VA)**
Miscellaneous
A female, approximately, 20-years-old, was riding her bicycle against traffic on
the roadway. She was listening to an MP3 player with ear bud style headphones
while riding her bike. She failed to see an oncoming truck and was struck by the
truck. The driver of the truck reports that he tried to swerve but the decedent did
not hear him coming. The cause of death was multiple injuries. (Office of the
Chief Medical Examiner, Baltimore, MD)
*A 1-year-old female decedent was asleep when placed inside her crib. She was
placed on her stomach with her head turned to the right. A stuffed toy (cow) was
placed inside the crib with her. She was found unresponsive the next morning
with her face to the toy and not breathing. She was transported by Fire Rescue to
an area hospital where she was pronounced. The cause of death was positional
asphyxia. (Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office, Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
A 2-year-old male decedent put a small rubber bouncing ball into his mouth and
choked on it. The decedent’s mother had purchased the ball for the decedent.
The decedent and the mother’s boyfriend were playing with the small 1 inch ball
in the hallway. He was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of death was anoxic/ischemic encephalopathy due to asphyxia by
choking on foreign object (toy ball). (Sacramento County Coroner’s Office,
Sacrament, CA) **
A 19-year-old male employed by a fireworks company to discharge fireworks at a
community park, was discovered deceased lying on the ground. The decedent
was lying near the fireworks mortar set where he was to set them off for the 4th of
July. He suffered trauma to the neck, face, chest, arms, abrasions, lacerations
8
and burns and burn marks on clothing. (Bucks County Coroner’s Office,
Warminster, PA)
