Two men were indicted Tuesday on manslaughter charges in the explosion at a marijuana grow house that killed an FDNY Battalion chief in the Bronx last September.
Garivaldi Castillo, 32, and Julio Salcedo, 34, who allegedly ran the grow house, “recklessly caused” the death of Michael Fahy, a 17-year veteran with the FDNY, the indictment said. The two were previously charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and first-degree criminal possession of marijuana, but were arraigned on the upgraded charges Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Fahy responded to the Kingsbridge house on West 234th Street for a report of a gas odor at about 6:30 a.m. on Sept. 27, 2016. When the house exploded about an hour later, Fahy was fatally struck by a part of the roof.
Castillo and Salcedo are accused of “sealing the windows of the building, in furtherance of a marijuana grow house operation, causing leaking gas to become trapped inside the building, causing it to explode,” according to the indictment.
“Chief Fahy responded to a situation that was a catastrophe waiting to happen,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said in a statement.
Clark added that Fahy saved the lives of the people inside the house, including the defendants, by ordering them to get out before the explosion.
