Academic

Even in Florida, homeless people freeze to death

Affectionately called "Bobbo" by his family, Robert Raimondo weaved in and out of their lives as he wrestled with his drinking problem. "I wish he had had some place better to stay, but he wanted to be with his friends," said his nephew.

A homeless man who spent the coldest night in six years wrapped in black garbage bags and huddled in a tent froze to death in Pompano Beach.

Robert Raimondo, 49, died of hypothermia as temperatures dipped to the low 30s, but he might have survived ? if he hadn?t drank alcohol while setting up camp in some woods. Witnesses told investigators they saw Raimondo drink heavily that night.

?Hypothermia was a very important element ...? said Dr. Joshua Perper, Broward County's chief medical examiner. ?An excess of alcohol certainly contributed to his death.?

Experts say the homeless are more susceptible to hypothermia because many are alcoholics, weakening their hearts and immune systems.

As Raimondo bundled up in the garbage bags, an arctic chill blowing from the north swept through South Florida. Temperatures reached a record 33 degrees in Palm Beach, but because of the wind, it felt more like 20 degrees in Broward County, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.

By the way, more people have died from cold weather than from heat in Florida, says the National Weather Service. From 1979 through 1997, 113 people died from the cold, and 97 died from the heat.

Read the South Florida Sun-Sentinel article here.

Full post as published by the 13th juror on February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).