Update on that 93 yr old who froze to death when electricity shut off - new details

[Liberal_in_LA]

clearly this was an old confused man who needed someone to look after him

State police report reveals grim details of Marvin Schur's freezing death
by Ryan J. Stanton | The Bay City Times
Sunday April 26, 2009, 7:43 AM

A pack of matches and a flashlight rest atop the kitchen counter near an open drawer. Stacks of bills have cash paper-clipped to them for the gas, electricity and phone companies. In all, $6,400 in large bills is found inside Marvin E. Schur's house.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, The Bay City Times received the following 213-page document, in four parts, which details the police investigation into the death of Marvin Schur.

The thermostat is set at 90 degrees, but the actual temperature is closer to the subzero chill outside. In the kitchen, three small propane canisters - the type used for barbecue grills - are in the trash. The door to an electric oven is wide open, but no heat is coming from the appliance.

Nor is there warmth coming from electric space heaters set around the house.

This is the state in which police found the Chilson Street home of Marvin Schur, the 93-year-old Bay City man who froze to death on his bedroom floor in January, bundled in several layers of clothing.

A 212-page Michigan State Police report revealing the circumstances of Schur's death was obtained by The Times through a Freedom of Information Act request. The report paints a picture of a confused man who used alternative methods of heating his home after his furnace failed, but those methods stopped working when the flow of electricity to his home was interrupted Jan. 13.

Schur's frozen body was discovered on Jan. 17, four days after city utility workers installed a "service limiter" on his home due to nearly $1,100 in unpaid utility bills.

Bay County Prosecutor Kurt C. Asbury decided last week that Bay City Electric Light & Power is not at fault for Schur's death because there is no proof of gross negligence.

Police concluded Schur was in a state of confusion at the time, but he knew something was wrong. He knew he was cold and he knew he needed to pay his bills, but any attempts to reach the outside world failed.

----------------------------------

The city, in the wake of Schur's death, has stopped the use of limiters.

The police investigation revealed anecdotal evidence from neighbors and friends that Schur suffered from Alzheimer's disease. They told police Schur was forgetful and usually did not know the day of the week.

http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/04/marvin_schur_police_report.html

[emilyg]

1. Neighbors and friends who knew

that he suffered from Alzheimer's should have been checking on him daily.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Family was out of state, now suing to get some moola for themselves

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[LisaL]

7. As I recall, he had no children. And his wife had died.

[LisaL]

8. Your neighbors are under no obligation to check in on you.

[lbrtbell]

9. I know, but it's a decent thing for people to do

I'm not saying this means the city did the right thing, of course. Just that people need to start caring for each other again.

I guess that's the tree-huggin' librul in me talking. Or maybe I'm too naive, expecting people to turn around after Reagan convinced the world that greed and selfishness are okay. I dunno. :(

[Delphinus]

11. No, but that's what being a neighbor,

in a neighborhood, is all about.

I am not a nosy person, but I would definitely check on somone on my street whom I knew was not in the best of shape.

[emilyg]

13. Of course not but

decent people do. Where I live if we don't see someone for a day we knock on their door or call them.

[JI7]

2. very sad

can you imagine how it must have been for him. he didn't have any family ?

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. yeah, out of state. They read about his death

[JI7]

5. if i had a relative like that i would either call regularly or make sure someone

else was watching over them regularly.

especially knowing he had alzeimers and the weather at that time.

[Hekate]

6. Metaphorically speaking, my mom practically beat my sis and me off with a stick in her last years...

It was pretty damn heartbreaking and infuriating. It's the downside of wanting to "live free or die." She moved out of state during the last 15 years of her life. We were in frequent touch. Over her strong objections we traveled to her when she had surgeries or other illnesses -- if we knew about them.

Even so, she had 10 really good years as a widow, made friends and was considered a wise elder in her liberal church. But when she up and had heart-bypass surgery without a second opinion, that was the start of her observable and undeniable mental decline, probably due to microthrombi getting to the brain during surgery. She became very hostile and paranoid, and because the family dance was what it was, we couldn't break through.

If it hadn't been that she decided our younger brother was the Golden Boy and that she would talk to him, she probably *would* have died alone in her condo with all the neighbors wondering what kind of shits she had for offspring. Her doctor (the real one, not the cardiologist/cardiac surgeon) and his office staff said, "Oh thank God" when we called about transferring her records to a new home because they knew how much she had declined. Brother had managed to coax her to move out to live near him in an assisted living facility, where she died a few months later, hating every single minute of her confinement.

During the summer of the cardiac surgery my sister and I came out more than once -- I spent weeks there -- and I finally had to start telling nurses, pointing to myself and my sis: "California. Massachusetts. We Don't Live Here. She Won't Live With Us. What do you suggest? Is there a social worker at the hospital? Please help us."

Take what lessons you will from this sad tale. Marvin Schur's family may truly be neglectful. Or maybe there's another story here.

The lesson I take from this is that we as a society need to (1) watch out for our neighbors because blood relatives may be far away, and (2) from the state right down to the city and county level we need to have ordinances that protect people from having their utilities cut off during extreme weather. Failure to pay should trigger an investigation from a governmental entity (Social Services, Area Agency on Aging, etc) to find out why the resident is unable to cope.

I'm so sorry for that old man and his confusion. But I do think the back story is likely to be complex.

Hekate

[kickysnana]

10. Previous report: he had tried to pay bill at a bank..

they did not alert authorities. The person from the bank interviewed was feeling guilty for not doing something at the time.

Really sad commentary on modern life.

[elocs]

12. Perhaps MI might join the more enlightened states like WI

who do not shut off people's power in the winter for failure to pay their bill. This man was failed in many ways.