Fumes kill 2 after U. Darby store leaves generator running indoors, police say

The store is called Smart International Grocery.

But Upper Darby police say it was sheer stupidity - and possibly criminal negligence - for a store employee to fire up a gas-powered generator inside the building Thursday and leave it running overnight, killing two apartment residents upstairs.

Ernesto Huerta, 58, and Stephen Butler, 50, were found dead in their apartments yesterday morning after the generator filled the building on West Chester Pike with carbon monoxide.

"This is really stupid," said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. "They're bringing in a generator into a locked environment and leave it running for 12 hours. There's no ventilation."

Police are waiting for autopsy results before deciding whether to file charges against the store employee, who Chitwood said used the 6,500-watt generator to keep the refrigerators running after Peco shut off the store's electricity because the bill had not been paid.

"Had there have been 10 people in that place, 10 people would have been dead," Chitwood said. "That's the tragedy of the whole thing. These two guys did not have to die."

Huerta's daughter discovered his body on the floor of his bathroom after he didn't show up yesterday at Pinky's N.Y. Cafe, the restaurant he owned on Philadelphia's South Street.

"My mom and my aunt kept calling him and he didn't answer," said Huerta's grandson, Trinidad Zacatelco, 17, who was grieving with relatives as police and firefighters ventilated the building with fans before they retrieved the bodies.

Zacatelco, an 11th-grader at South Philadelphia High who works at Pinky's, said his grandfather was a hard worker who rose early to open his restaurant.

"He was always there for me and all our family whenever we needed him," Zacatelco said. "He was a good guy. He hired me to go work with him so I wouldn't get in trouble. I started working there and I like it there. I'm going to miss him."

Police did not release the name of the Smart International Grocery employee who set up the generator. He could face manslaughter and other charges.

"Instead of paying the bill, they go and buy a generator to supplement the electricity, and two people died," Chitwood said. "That certainly is careless."

Peco terminated service to the store on Wednesday for bill nonpayment. The grocer paid the balance soon afterward and Peco workers told the store its service would be restored in 24 to 72 hours, according to PECO spokesman Ben Armstrong. Police say power to the upstairs apartments was not affected.

The building doesn't have carbon-monoxide detectors and is not required to under township ordinances, officials said.

Pennsylvania Department of State records list the president of Smart International Grocery Store Inc. as Benny Abraham of Schwenksville, Montgomery County. Police have spoken to Abraham, but they believe it was the store manager, not Abraham, who set up the generator.

Chitwood said the manager should have known not to operate a generator indoors. The warning label can't be missed.

"Right on the very top is a metal placard," Chitwood said. "It states, 'Using a generator indoors can kill you in minutes.' "