Miami Injury Lawyer Blog
It was the day after Christmas, on December 26, 2010, when a hotel maid found five Miami teenagers dead in a Hialeah motel room. Teenager, Juchen Martial wanted to celebrate his 19th birthday with four of his best friends. They decided to rent a room and celebrate Sunday night at the Hotel Presidente located at 1395 S.E. 8th Ct. near Miami International Airport and off of Okeechobee Rd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmKmWJLvKY4The five teenagers are believed to have passed away due to being poisoned from carbon monoxide fumes. The five victims who passed away in this tragic accident were Martial, who was celebrating his 19th birthday, Evans Charles- 19, Jonas Antenor-18; Peterson Nazon- 17 and Jean Pierre Ferdinand- 16. The five teenagers were all really close friends from their Little Haiti neighborhood. When Hialeah police and firefighters entered the hotel room Monday afternoon, they observed a red Kia Optima that was left running.
Earlier that Sunday night, the red Kia had been giving the teenagers some car problems when the battery died. One of their friends, 18 year old Maxon Ofea, needed to give the red Kia a car jump. The five teenagers picked up McDonald’s and were sitting around their hotel room eating fast food. Apparently, the friends were planning on going out after they ate and left the car running. The red Kia was left running in the bottom floor garage of the hotel room and they had left a hall door slightly opened which led to the rest of the hotel room on the second floor. As a result, the odorless, deadly fumes went up stairs where the five teenagers were eating. “They thought the car wouldn’t start. That’s the reason it happened,” said Ofea who grew up with the five teenagers.
Five Teens Found Dead inside Hialeah Motel; carbon monoxide could be killer, www.miamiherald.com, December 27, 2010.
Police are investigating the cause of deaths resulting from this tragic accident; however, it is believed that the deaths were due to the carbon monoxide. Richard Dalce who is good friends with the group of teenagers said, “they didn’t want to cut the car off”. This is not the first time an accident such as this has occurred. In 2005 three people were found dead inside of a car in another Hialeah hotel room, the Chesapeake Motel. The victims were staying in a hotel room very similar to the room at the President Hotel. Also, in 2006 at the Doubletree Grand Key Resort in Key West, Florida, 26 year old Thomas Lueders and his father were staying in their hotel room when carbon monoxide fumes entered their room from the boiler room next door. Both men were found dead the next day. Needless to say, it was only six days earlier in that same exact room that three guests were found really sick.
The Key West incident played a key role in a 2007 Florida law that passed which requires gas detectors to be installed in hotel and motel boiler rooms. This law also requires all homes and apartments built after July 1, 2008, that contain a heater, fireplace or attached garage be equipped with an alarm within ten feet of the bedrooms.
If you or anyone you know are in a tragic accident you should contact the lawyers at the Friedland | Carmona who have over twenty years combined experience in handling tragic accidents such as this premises liability case or resort tort. The Miami personal injury lawyers at the Friedland | Carmona handle accidents throughout Florida such as dog bites, car accidents, medical malpractice, construction accidents, wrongful deaths, cruise accidents and airline accidents. We will help you and your family immediately as we have served those in and around Miami, Hialeah, Kendall, Opa Locka, Ft. Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, and West Palm Beach.