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Hazleton Man Dies from Apparent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

HAZLETON — A man is dead and his family was hospitalized. Police say it’s a case of carbon monoxide poisoning. Police say Carlos Minaya Castillo pul...

HAZLETON -- A man is dead and his family was hospitalized. Police say it's a case of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Police say Carlos Minaya Castillo pulled his car into his garage and did not shut the engine off when he returned to his home on Alter Street in Hazleton. The husband and father then went inside his home and left the door to the house open.

Two hours later, his wife found Castillo lying face down and not moving. She called police, but they could not revive him. Minutes later, a deputy coroner pronounced Castillo dead. The likely cause: carbon monoxide poisoning.

"(Carbon monoxide) travels to wherever that opening is going to be, so if the windows are closed and the garage is closed and the door is open to go into the bathroom and into the home, the (carbon monoxide) travels in and then up and the gases start filling the home," Hazleton Police Chief Jerry Speziale said. "It definitely appears to be an accident. It's an unfortunate situation and our thoughts and prayers are with the family."

For neighbor Mike Turner, who lives across the street, he woke up around 4 a.m. in a frantic state because he heard screaming from the house as the wife was crying for help.

"I woke up and seen the woman across the street yelling and screaming," Turner said. "She needed help and she was speaking in Spanish that she thinks he's dead. Just come out of bed and you're like, 'what's going on?' Didn't know if it was a shooting or what. It's your neighbors and you feel like you need to try and help and something like this happens, you don't know what to do."

Police say the situation might have been worse if Castillo's wife did not wake up. She and the couple's 11-year-old son were sent to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest near Allentown as they had high levels of carbon monoxide.

The four responding police officers were also treated and released from a local hospital.

Chief Speziale expects his officers and the family members to recover quickly.

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