4 arrested in hyperbaric chamber explosion that killed 5-year-old in Oakland County
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Kayla Clarke, Senior Web Producer
Derick Hutchinson, Digital Executive Producer
Published: March 10, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Updated: March 10, 2025 at 5:12 PM
TROY, Mich. – Police in Troy confirmed Monday, March 10, that four people have been taken into custody in connection with a hyperbaric chamber explosion that killed a 5-year-old boy.
Thomas Cooper was killed on Jan. 31, 2025, when the hyperbaric chamber he was receiving treatment in at the Oxford Center in Troy exploded. Cooper’s mother was also injured.
Police said they would not release further details until after the arraignment, which is expected to take place Tuesday, March 11.
The family hired Fieger Law to represent the 5-year-old boy and his mother.
A GoFundMe has been started to raise money to help the family.
—> Hyperbaric chambers: What they are, what they treat, risks, and accreditation
According to the FDA, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is known for treating scuba and deep-sea divers affected by the rapid change in pressure around them.
The FDA said it can also be used to treat other health problems, including carbon monoxide poisoning and diabetic foot ulcers. The increased air pressure in the chamber helps the lungs collect more oxygen, which can get more oxygen to the tissues that need, and help the body heal and fight certain infections.
As of July 2021, the FDA has only cleared hyperbaric chambers for 13 disorders. HBOT is being studied for other conditions, including COVID-19, but the FDA has not cleared or authorized the use of any HBOT device to treat anything other than the 13 disorders listed.
As of Jan. 31, 2025, the Oxford Center had more than 100 conditions listed on its website in the hyperbaric oxygen therapy page as “conditions treated.”
The FDA recommends those who need treatment get it at an accredited facility saying, “Explosions and fires have occurred in HBOT chambers that have not been reviewed by the FDA and are located at unaccredited facilities.”
The FDA said the facility should be accredited by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. According to the UHMS map, only two locations in Michigan have been accredited and they are in Grand Rapids and Niles.
In a statement to Local 4, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) said that state law does not require hyperbaric oxygen facilities to be licensed or regulated by LARA.
The Oxford Center opened in 2008. The fire department said the facility will be closed “until further notice” while they continue to investigate the explosion.
The Oxford Center released the following statement on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025:
“This is an exceptionally difficult day for all of us.
“As law enforcement officials have shared, at our location in Troy, Michigan this morning, a fire started inside of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The child being treated in that chamber did not survive and the child’s mother was injured.
“The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy.
“We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place.”
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Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.
Derick is the Digital Executive Producer for ClickOnDetroit and has been with Local 4 News since April 2013. Derick specializes in breaking news, crime and local sports.
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Police arrest 4 in connection to hyperbaric chamber fire that killed 5-year-old Michigan boy: report
James Harrington, attorney at Fieger Law, discusses the case of 5-year-old Thomas Cooper, who died in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber on Jan. 31 while receiving treatment for ADHD and sleep apnea.
Police in Troy, Michigan, have arrested four people in connection to the death of a 5-year-old boy who was inside a hyperbaric chamber when it exploded at a medical facility in January, including the owner of the facility, according to reports.
FOX 2 in Detroit reported that Tammi Peterson, the founder and CEO of The Oxford Center in Troy, was arrested at her home on Monday morning just before 7 a.m. for the death of 5-year-old Thomas Cooper.
Peterson is expected to be charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, the station reported.
Her company owned and operated the hyperbaric chamber that Cooper was inside when it exploded.
BOY KILLED IN HYPERBARIC OXYGEN CHAMBER REMEMBERED AS ‘CURIOUS, ENERGETIC, SMART’ AS FAMILY INTENDS TO SUE
Thomas Cooper died when the chamber he was inside exploded in Michigan. (Family of Thomas Cooper)
In addition to Peterson, three others are expected to be charged with the same crimes, while one of those three will also be charged with falsifying medical records.
FOX 2 reported that the names of the other three individuals have not been released.
The Detroit Free Press reported that all four are scheduled to be arraigned in district court on Tuesday.
The Troy Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional information and comment.
CELEBRITIES LIKE BIEBER, BIALIK ARE USING HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY: HERE’S WHY IT’S TRENDING
Patients who receive hyperbaric chamber treatment will “enter a special chamber to breathe in pure oxygen in air pressure levels 1.5 to 3 times higher than average,” according to Johns Hopkins. (© Daily News and Wicked Local Staff Photo/Ken McGagh/USA TODAY NETWORK)
When reached for comment, an attorney for the Oxford Center issued a statement to FOX 2, saying they are fully cooperating with investigators, though they are disappointed in the charges.
“The timing of these charges is surprising, as the typical protocol after a fire-related accident has not yet been completed. There are still outstanding questions about how this occurred. Yet, the Attorney General’s office proceeded to pursue charges without those answers,” the statement reads. “Our highest priority every day is the safety and wellbeing of the children and families we serve, which continues during this process.”
On the day of the deadly explosion, the boy’s mother, Annie Cooper, was sitting in a waiting room while her son received treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and sleep apnea.
DOCTOR LOSES LICENSE OVER OXYGEN CHAMBER FIRE THAT KILLED 2
Thomas Cooper died when the chamber he was inside exploded in Michigan. (Family of Thomas Cooper)
Thomas was receiving treatment that consisted of 100% oxygen on Jan. 31 at The Oxford Center, located about 24 miles north of Detroit.
“She was in the waiting room and was alerted that … something wrong had happened. She rushed back to where her son was, and she tried and tried and tried to get him out and … was unable to,” James Harrington of Fieger Law told Fox News Digital. “She sustained serious, significant burns in that attempt to rescue her child.”
Fieger Law is investigating the incident, and Harrington believes The Oxford Center “was understaffed and did not have the resources for an emergency like this.”
The Oxford Center stated on its website: “Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is an alternative treatment which will decrease inflammation, oxygenate the entire body, stimulate the growth of new healthy blood vessels, and release stem cells, up to 800% more after 20 sessions. Studies have reported improvement in concentration, communication, working memory and sleep.”
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When Troy police and fire officials arrived on the scene, Thomas was dead inside the chamber while Annie suffered injuries to her arm.
Annie and her husband, Thomas’ father, James Cooper, buried the 5-year-old on Feb. 13. Thomas “was known to all his friends, family, and teachers as a curious, energetic, smart, outgoing, and thoughtful little boy,” his obituary stated.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
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Tammi Peterson, founder and CEO of The Oxford Center, is reportedly expected to face second-degree murder and manslaughter charges
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Four charged in death of boy killed in hyperbaric chamber fire in Michigan facility
Four charged in death of boy killed in hyperbaric chamber fire in Michigan facility
Four people were arrested and charged Monday in connection with the death of a 5-year-old boy who was killed in a hyperbaric chamber in Michigan this year, police said.
Thomas Cooper died in a fiery explosion on Jan. 31 while he was undergoing treatment at the Oxford Center, an alternative medicine facility in the Detroit suburb of Troy.
Oxford Center founder and CEO Tamela Peterson was among those arrested in Thomas’ death. Peterson and two other people were charged with second-degree murder, while a fourth person was charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information in medical records, court documents show.
Gerald Gleeson II, Peterson’s attorney, declined to comment on her arrest Monday evening.
Attorneys could not immediately be located for Gary Marken or Jeffrey Mosteller, the two others charged with second-degree murder, both of whom appear to hold director titles, according to Oxford Center company webpages.
An attorney for the fourth person charged, Aleta Moffitt, declined to comment.
Moffitt was charged with involuntary manslaughter and falsifying information; her attorney, Ellen Michaels, did not say what Moffitt’s job was at the center.
All four defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, a Troy police spokesperson said.
Sam Vitale, an attorney representing the Oxford Center, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News. In a statement to WXYZ-TV of Detroit on Monday evening, the Oxford Center said, “After cooperating with multiple investigations starting immediately after the tragic accident in January, we are disappointed to see charges filed.”
The company said it was surprised by the charges because “the typical protocol after a fire-related accident has not yet been completed” and because there are “outstanding questions” about how the incident occurred.
Thomas’ parents have not spoken publicly since their son, died and they declined to comment Monday on the arrests. Their attorney, James Harrington, has told NBC News that Thomas’ parents had taken him to receive multiple sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder at the Oxford Center and that his mom, Annie Cooper, was burned on her arm when she rushed over to the chamber to try to save her son after the fire broke out.
Harrington said the family plans to file a lawsuit even after Monday’s criminal charges and added that he was “not surprised” by the arrests.
“This is a very, very egregious case,” Harrington said in a phone interview.
Vitale told NBC News last month that the Oxford Center had been cooperating with the investigation.
“The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority. We are participating in the investigations that are still taking place to determine how this happened,” he said in an emailed statement on Feb. 19.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which involves delivering 100% oxygen in a pressurized, tubelike chamber, is cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to treat a handful of conditions, including carbon monoxide poisoning, certain wounds and burns and decompression sickness in scuba divers.
The FDA regulates certain hyperbaric chambers that meet its definition of Class II medical devices, which are “intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.”
In recent years, unaccredited facilities such as spas and wellness centers have started promoting hyperbaric oxygen therapy for various health problems.
The Oxford Center, which has two locations in Michigan, says it treats more than 100 conditions, including autism, Alzheimer’s, dyslexia and cancer. The FDA does not recognize hyperbaric oxygen therapy for those conditions.
Thomas’ parents, who live in Royal Oak, Michigan, are doing “absolutely horrible” since their son died, Harrington said Monday.
“Under no circumstances should this happen,” he said.
Elizabeth Chuck is a reporter for NBC News who focuses on health and mental health, particularly issues that affect women and children.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
