A faulty heating system is being blamed for triggering a carbon monoxide leak Saturday that killed a manager of a popular Long Island eatery and sickened 19 other people.
The Legal Sea Food restaurant at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington Station remained closed Sunday and tables bore half-eaten meals left by diners forced to flee.
A.J. Carter, spokesman for the Town of Huntington, said a fire marshal traced the poisonous odorless gas to a leaky flue of a restaurant’s heating system.
“He came and discovered a problem with he heating system and a leaking flue pipe,” Carter of the fire marshal’s findings. “The issue was in the basement, where the manager … was overcome.”
A worker said the manager, Steven Nelson, 55, a father of two, was found passed out a basement restroom.
The restaurant’s assistant manager, Megan Smith, was also overcome by the fumes when she went to search for Nelson, said the employee, who requested anonymity.
“It was madness,” the worker said. “She (Smith) went downstairs to inspect and disappeared. That’s when we knew something was wrong. People kept disappearing down there.”
Nelson was taken to Huntington Hospital, where he died of a heart attack, officials said.
Smith was hospitalized overnight, but was expected to be released Sunday.
“We appreciate everyone’s prayers, well wishes and concerns,” Smith said in a statement released by the hospital.
Dr. Michael Grasso of Huntington Hospital said his emergency-room staff treated 10 other people for carbon monoxide poisoning, including three paramedics sent to the restaurant. He said Smith was the only victim hospitalized overnight.
Eight others were treated at the scene.
The restaurant was issued a summons for unsafe equipment and will not reopen until city inspectors are assured the problem is fixed, officials said.
Roger Berkowitz, president and CEO of Legal Sea Foods, called Nelson a “really good guy.”
“It’s like losing a family member,” Berkowitz said outside the restaurant Sunday.
John Restel, 26, a bartender at the restaurant, said Nelson was a beloved boss and world traveler, who recently returned from a trip to Israel.
“He’d ask everyone to high-five their partners right before our shifts,” Restel said.
