Glassport landlord accused of putting tenants in danger due to high carbon monoxide levels
GLASSPORT, Pa. (KDKA) — A landlord is facing charges for allegedly putting his tenants in danger.
Glassport police said there were such high levels of carbon monoxide that five people have to be treated, and police say 39-year-old Geoffrey Davis was argumentative when they brought the gas issue to his attention.
Court papers said on Monday that a 17-year-old boy kept falling without cause. His grandmother called 911 around 5:30 a.m. Paramedics found high levels of carbon monoxide and evacuated the building on Monongahela Avenue.
Medical experts said carbon monoxide can cause long-term problems if someone is exposed for too long.
"If you hear the carbon monoxide detector go off, get everybody including pets out of the house as soon as possible and then call 911," AHN Chair of Emergency Medicine Institute Bobby Kapur said. "If you're having high levels of carbon monoxide poisoning, it can lead to seizure, pass out or even lead to a coma."
Investigators say the grandmother told them her CO alarm had been going off for three days. She changed the batteries and it kept going. She then called Davis and he came two days later. Davis allegedly changed the furnace filter but allegedly never addressed the carbon monoxide alarms.
"It's odorless, it's colorless, it's tasteless. It could be in the air at high levels and people in the house may not actually know they are being exposed to it," Dr. Kapur said.
Davis is accused of telling police that a tenant must have been so ill they broke a pipe to get themselves sick. The complaint said officers also addressed how there was no second emergency exit.
Davis allegedly said asked if the building didn't catch fire or explode, why are we talking about the exit, adding he was "impossible to speak with." Gas crews told police the building put residents in "imminent danger of death." They red-tagged the furnace and made it inoperable.
In all, five people had to be treated for symptoms of carbon monoxide. Davis is facing nine counts of recklessly endangering another person. We have reached out to him but have not heard back.