Documents on Greensburg attorney's death in YMCA sauna say he died of 'natural causes'

Documents from emergency responders who were called after the body of a Greensburg attorney was discovered last year inside the sauna of the Greensburg YMCA run counter to multiple claims made in a lawsuit filed by the man’s family.

The two-count wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Westmoreland County court by Colleen Robinson and her four sons, claims her husband, David Robinson, 80, spent the night of March 14 and into the early-morning hours of March 15, 2020, inside the sauna — where temperatures reached 112 degrees.

The high heat, which was kept on from 4:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., raised his body temperature to a “fatally high temperature” because there was no way to open the door from the inside that day, the lawsuit claims.

The suit seeks compensatory damages of more than $30,000 plus costs of the lawsuit from the YMCA and former Chief Executive George O’Brien.

However, both county Coroner Ken Bacha and Greensburg police list Robinson’s death in official documents as due to “natural causes.”

Deputy Coroner Kirk Nolan reported Robinson’s own doctor signed off on the observations made by emergency responders at the scene that the death was natural and no autopsy was performed.

“We do not conduct autopsies in every case. If we would have determined any suspicious circumstances … an autopsy would have been conducted,” Nolan said. “But, in this case, one of his physicians signed off on the death.”

Officer Jason Dieter wrote in a police report about Robinson’s death that acquaintances of the attorney, who served on the board of directors of the YMCA, told authorities that Robinson “just had pacemaker surgery within the past couple of weeks.”

“Based on this information and no suspicious indicators, it does appear that Robinson might have passed due to natural causes,” Dieter wrote in the incident report.

Greensburg attorney George Stewart, who is representing the YMCA, said the organization obtained a copy of the lawsuit and denies it was negligent.

“We fully deny that (the YMCA) was negligent in any way, or any way was the proximate cause of Dave’s passing at the age of 80,” said Stewart.

The lawsuit alleges that the door on the sauna was unable to be opened from the inside.

Pittsburgh attorney Robert F. Daley, who represents the Robinson family, said this week they “don’t have any evidentiary facts at this point” to prove that.

However, he said attorneys want to pursue the claim as the lawsuit progresses. If the door could have been opened from the inside, then Robinson could have left the sauna, Daley said.

The police report did not indicate that Robinson was locked inside or that the sauna lacked a mechanism for users to open it from the inside.

Stewart said he believes Daley making a claim about Robinson being locked inside “without any evidence” is indicative of the many “inaccuracies and falsehoods contained throughout the lawsuit.”

“Those accusations are solely made to seek publicity,” he said.

He said the allegation of sauna users not being able to open the door from the inside “is completely untrue.”

The suit alleges the defendants were negligent by failing to establish safety measures for using the sauna and not having an automatic shutoff and emergency call button for those inside the sauna.

Robinson, described in the lawsuit as a healthy and active man, entered the YMCA sauna about 5:45 p.m. March 14. An employee tasked with closing the South Maple Avenue facility at 7 p.m. that day failed to check the locker room or sauna for anyone remaining inside, the lawsuit claims.

Dieter’s report disclosed that, when the YMCA closed that day, several announcements were made by YMCA staff “advising the facility will be closing in 30 minutes, 15 minutes, 5 minutes and then closed.”

The police report states that, while the YMCA made multiple announcements the facility was preparing to close for the evening, no final “walk through” of the facility was made.

Robinson’s body was discovered about 8:30 a.m. March 15 by a maintenance worker who entered the building to turn off the boiler for the sauna, the suit says. Robinson was unresponsive and not breathing. Greensburg police, the coroner and O’Brien came to the YMCA after the maintenance man called for assistance, according to the police reports and the lawsuit.

O’Brien, who left the YMCA in April 2020, declined comment on the lawsuit.