Man Dead in Cesspool Accident (DEA Agent)
Sept. 4, 2001 -- HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (AP) - A man who had been practicing archery in the back yard with his two children died when his cesspool caved in and swallowed him, police said. Michael Lobasso, 35, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, was standing on the ground above the cesspool when it gave way at about 12:40 p.m. Monday, Suffolk County police said.
Searchers located his body a few hours later, but worked throughout the night to remove it because the walls of the 18-foot-deep cesspool were crumbling on top of the quicksand-like pool, police said. The body was recovered at about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Detective Sgt. Arthur Ahl said.
"The more they dug, the worse the body actually got stuck,'" he said. When rescue crews arrived, they found a 3-foot-wide hole that grew to about 15 feet across as they searched, Huntington Manor Fire Chief Charles Hoffman said. Fire officials told Newsday they didn't see any construction or digging that could have caused the cesspool to cave in.
As a young man in my late teens I was a volunteer fireman. One night we got a call just down the road from my house, it was an elderly man trapped in a cesspool. It seems that this gentleman had fallen through the cover to his cesspool the day before, but he lived alone and no one notice him missing. His son got suspicious when no one answered the phone, so he drove over and found dad, up to his chest in sewage.
We bridged the hole with two ladders, and lucky me got to trundle out and pull him free. I got this august privilege because I lived within walking distant of the mans house, about ½ mile, so it was reasoned that I could walk home and not contaminate anyone’s car or truck. After pulling him free, I proceeded to get hosed off and walk home, where my pants and shirt went directly into the trash can. I went directly into the shower.
He survived the ordeal, bit was never quite right again, the doctors said he had a small stroke due to the exposure. It was determined that he had spent over 30 hours in this pit.
I swear the ambulance he was transported in smelled like sewage until it was retired. But, others in the department think it was just me that smelled that way :).