Homer Hallum tragically died in polar temperatures after being locked out of his senior home in Detroit.
Hallum, 73, exited the facility’s back door of Morton Manor, which automatically locked behind him, with no means of re-entry. The door led to a gated parking lot. Hallum did not bring his key fob or building key, leaving him stranded in a temperature of three degrees with a negative 20 wind chill.
A security guard found the elder, describing him as “stiff as a board and cold as ice, heavy cold.” Ambulances were summoned, but Hallum passed away en route to the hospital.
“He had no other choice in blistering cold, below-zero weather – all he could do is lay down and, basically, die,” says his daughter Shelia Garrison. Garrison and sister Theresa Hallum questioned the senior facility Morton Manor on how this incident could’ve happened: Was their father ever warned about using the back door or used it before? Morton Manor has not issued a statement.
Hallum will be laid to rest today in Detroit.