An electrical scooter battery sparked a fireplace that killed an 8-year-old woman in New York Metropolis, authorities stated. The loss of life of Stephanie Villa Torres on Saturday was no less than the third time in slightly over a 12 months that a deadly hearth within the metropolis has been linked to a scooter battery.
Saturday's hearth was reported round 7:30 a.m. at a house in Queens, a police spokesperson stated. Stephanie was discovered unresponsive and was pronounced useless at a hospital. The woman's father and 18-year-old brother had been handled for burns and smoke inhalation, officers stated.
"It's extremely unhappy to listen to about. I heard that the daddy could not get to her in time, which is actually heartbreaking when you concentrate on it," Faculty Level resident Sam Chen informed CBS New York.
One neighbor bought the chilling name for his sister and says the fireplace erupted from the unit, the station reported.
"She noticed simply an enormous hearth and every thing taking place, however she by no means actually seen something like this, particularly round our space, the place there's, like, actually by no means something. It is only a calm neighborhood," Alejandro Mendreno stated.
The fireplace division stated the blaze was brought on by a lithium battery from an electrical scooter — one among scores of fires blamed on electrical scooter and bike batteries in New York Metropolis over the previous two years.
A lady and a 5-year-old woman had been killed Aug. 3 in Harlem by a fireplace that was blamed on a scooter battery, and a fireplace linked to an e-scooter killed a 9-year-old boy in Queens in September 2021.
E-bikes are being blamed for greater than 60 accidents within the metropolis this 12 months, CBS New York reported. The New York Metropolis Housing Authority is pushing to have e-bikes banned from their buildings.