Gas Leak Kills Employee at Walt Whitman Shops

John Mitty Sunday, February 23, 2014

At a Huntington Station mall, a carbon monoxide leak killed a man and made around two dozen other men and women ill.  Emergency crews were on the scene before they even realized that a gas leak was in progress.  The call was for a woman who hit her head and fell around 6 p.m. on Saturday at Legal Sea Foods.  Emergency workers who arrived realized they were feeling ill when they came into the store to assist the woman, and then ascertained that there was a gas leak in progress. 

A man and a woman were discovered in the basement of the store.  The woman was still alive, but the man, Steven Nelson, 55, was dead.  Nelson was the general manager of Legal Sea Foods.  27 other people were rushed to hospitals in the area, but most were released by the following morning.  According to authorities, the problem may have been the result of a defect in the heating system located in the restaurant’s basement.  The neighboring Panera Bread and Cheesecake Factory restaurants were evacuated in response to the gas leak, though both were likely unaffected. Legal Sea Foods is a chain based in Boston.  On Twitter, the company stated that they were “profoundly saddened” by the news of Nelson’s death.  

jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com

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