This is sad and scary: 55-year-old Steven Nelson, the general manager of the Legal Seafoods at Long Island’s Walt Whitman Shops, died on Saturday evening after carbon monoxide leaked into the restaurant. Nelson and an unidentified female coworker were found passed out in the building’s basement, the New York Times reports. 911 was called, and some of the first responders on the scene quickly began feeling nauseated and dizzy, which they recognized as signs of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Legal Seafoods was then evacuated, along with nearby mall staples Panera Bread and the Cheesecake Factory.
A total of 27 people — including three Suffolk County cops and four of the volunteers — had to be taken to a hospital to be treated for exposure to the gas. All were doing well as of Sunday with the exception of Nelson, who died from a heart attack soon after arriving at Huntington Hospital. Investigators are still looking into what caused the leak, which may have been the result of a problem with the restaurant’s heating system.
