Body-Strewn Brooklyn Funeral Home Loses License: Report

FLATLANDS, BROOKLYN — A coronavirus-hit Flatlands funeral home lost its license after it apparently stored at least 50 decomposing bodies in rented trucks, according to a report.

New York Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker immediately suspended the license of Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home following a probe into the home's body storage, the New York Post first reported.

The home stored dozens of bodies in unrefrigerated rental trucks parked on Utica Avenue after its freezer broke down and bodies piled up amid the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities learned about the situation after a passerby on Wednesday complained about the smell.

"Following an investigation by the State Department of Health, I issued an immediate suspension order to the Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in Brooklyn – whose actions were appalling, disrespectful to the families of the deceased, and completely unacceptable," Zucker said in a statement obtained by the Post.

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The situation prompted widespread outrage. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is leading a bereavement group for families who had loved ones' bodies in the home.

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