Bodies Found In Trucks Near Brooklyn Funeral Home, Police Say

FLATLANDS, BROOKLYN — Dozens of decomposing bodies found stowed in trailers parked along a Flatlands street appear connected to a nearby funeral home, authorities and reports said.

"Multiple DOAs" is how authorities labeled a Wednesday call about the bodies found on Utica Avenue.

Police first responded at 11:22 a.m., discovering first a stench and then several dozen decomposing bodies stashed in a tractor-trailer and U-Haul, the New York Times reported. It appears the funeral home's freezer stopped working and staff used the trailers as storage, the Times reported.

The situation — an as-yet-unconfirmed number of bodies stacked inside — isn't suspicious, NYPD said.

Instead, an investigation is now in the state health department's hands, police said.

Funeral directors are required to store bodies in "appropriate condition" and follow infection and prevention precautions, according to a New York Department of Health statement.

"The Department has been notified of storage issues of decedents and alternate arrangements are being made by the funeral home," the statement read.

They didn't confirm the funeral home, but ABC7 reported it was Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services. A funeral director denied bodies were being kept in anything other than the morgue and a refrigerated truck, the news station reported.

A user on the Citizen app posted a video of a police perimeter on Utica Avenue and Avenue M, along with two large trailers parked outside the funeral home.

Funeral homes, nursing homes and hospitals have been overwhelmed by thousands of deaths related to the coronavirus outbreak. It's unclear how many bodies at the Flatlands funeral home were of coronavirus victims, the New York Times reported.