Charges in Jay Street fire can go forward, judge rules

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

Kenneth Tyree appears in court in March with his attorney, Sven Paul.

SCHENECTADY — Charges against a former city code inspector filed in connection with the fatal 2015 Jay Street apartment fire will not be dismissed, a judge ruled recently.

An attorney for Kenneth Tyree, 53, of Schenectady, sought to have the top counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide dismissed. Sven Paul, who represents Tyree, suggested Tyree didn’t know what he was doing, that he never received any training in the type of alarm system installed at 104 Jay St. and had never inspected a building like it before in his life.

Prosecutors opposed the motion, and Judge Matthew Sypniewski issued a brief ruling recently upholding the charges and sending the case forward to hearings and a trial.

Tyree is charged in connection with the March 6, 2015, fire that killed four people. Building property manager Jason Sacks is also charged. The judge’s ruling also left charges against Sacks unchanged.

The early-morning blaze also left seven people hospitalized and displaced about 60 other residents, while destroying the 104 Jay St. building and the neighboring 100-102 Jay St. structures.

Investigators determined an unattended candle or cigarette sparked the fire, but the investigation soon turned to the building’s safety and code inspection efforts leading up to the fire.

Tyree is accused of failing to do his job by inspecting 104 Jay St. the day before the fire and failing to act on observed dangers.

The city suspended Tyree upon his arrest earlier this year; he is has since been terminated as an employee, officials have said. Tyree is also charged with lying on his 2013 employment application.

Sacks, 39, of Sanders Avenue, Scotia, is accused of failing to maintain the fire detection system at 104 Jay St. from Oct. 20, 2014, to the date of the fire. He is also accused of tampering with or disturbing the required detection and alarm system while the system was not being monitored and allowing the building to operate with no fire doors in hallway stairwells.

Prosecutors argued in Tyree’s case that anyone, even someone with no background in fire inspection, would have understood the alarm system to be inoperable.

Sypniewski issued similarly worded rulings in both cases, finding that evidence presented to the grand jury was sufficient to support the charges.

Hearings on statements the two men allegedly made to law enforcement are scheduled for the end of this month.

Killed in the fire were Harry Simpson, 59; Robert Thomas, 31; Jermaine Allen, 37; and Berenices Suarez, 33.

Many of those injured and the estates of those killed have filed lawsuits against the building’s owner, Ted Gounaris Inc. Many have also filed notices of claim for possible lawsuits against the city.