A woman died in Midtown Sunday after being exposed to “hazardous materials,” police said.
The 35-year-old victim was found unresponsive in the back of a vehicle on East 56th Street and Sutton Place at around 11:23 a.m. on March 5. Sources close to the investigation say two NYPD officers responded after a woman walking her dog made the grim discovery Sunday morning.
When the pair arrived, they opened the car door, only to be hit with a powerful odor. Both officers were examined on scene and are expected to be okay, sources said.
EMS pronounced the woman dead after which a massive emergency response flooded the area. First responders wearing hazmat suits and using what appeared to be Geiger counters — an instrument used to detect radiation — combed over the vehicle as police cordoned off the scene to the public.
A putrid, sulfur odor emanated throughout the block, which remained roped off Sunday afternoon.
According to authorities, an array of liquid chemicals were found within the car, the combination of which police believe killed the woman. While law enforcement sources do not believe the incident is criminally motivated, they did not say whether the death was intentional or accidental, nor did they release exactly what chemicals were found inside the car.
“I have never seen anything like that,” one officer, who requested anonymity, told amNewYork Metro. “That is someone’s daughter.”
The medical examiner removed the woman’s body while the materials were placed in red bags. The investigation remains ongoing, and the victim’s identity is being withheld pending family notification.
Nearly four years ago, a man was found in a similar fashion in a car in Queens. An investigation later uncovered that the man, a Lyft driver, died by what police referred to as “a chemical suicide.” The discovery of the victim’s body prompted a massive response by the FDNY’s Haz-Mat Unit, which worked to make the area safe for firefighters to pull the man’s body out of the car.
A chemical suicide, as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, involves death by exposure to chemical vapors from household chemicals or other products in a confined area. It poses serious risk of injury to first responders and others who may become exposed to the fumes.
It remains unclear whether or not the woman whose body was discovered Sunday died by such a suicide.
Additional reporting by Robert Pozarycki
