Sep. 8—The family of a Greensburg attorney who died last year after being trapped overnight in the sauna of the Greensburg YMCA is suing the organization and its former executive director, claiming negligence.

The two-count wrongful death lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County Court by Colleen Robinson and her four sons claims that her husband, David Robinson, 80, spent the night of March 14 and into the early morning hours of March 15 inside the sauna — where temperatures reached 112 degrees — with no way to escape. 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 alleges the defendants, the YMCA and former Chief Executive George O'Brien of Greensburg, 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.

The suit, filed Sept. 3, seeks compensatory damages of more than $30,000 plus costs of the lawsuit.

Suzanne Printz, current YMCA chief executive; Keith Biskup, president of the YMCA board of directors, and O'Brien, who left the YMCA in April 2020, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Robinson, described in the lawsuit as a healthy and active man, entered the YMCA sauna around 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.

Robinson's body was not discovered until about 8:30 a.m. March 15 by a maintenance man who entered the building to turn off the boiler for the sauna, the suit says. Robinson was unresponsive and not breathing. Greensburg police, the Westmoreland County Coroner and O'Brien came to the YMCA in response to the maintenance man's call for assistance, the suit claims.

Pittsburgh attorney Robert F. Daley, who represents the Robinson family, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .