A 61-year-old AT&T worker who died while atop a utility pole suffered some kind of medical emergency and was not the victim of electrocution, officials revealed Monday.
The coroner’s office said a weekend autopsy determined there was no sign of electrocution or trauma on the body of the Studio City man who was found dangling from the utility pole in the rear of a home Friday in Valley Glen.
However, determining the exact cause of Robert Alfred Hernandez’s death has been deferred pending the results of lab and toxicology tests, coroner’s Capt. John Kades said, but authorities suspect he suffered some type of “medical emergency” as he was working.
AT&T was “working closely with the authorities to investigate what happened,” according to a company spokesperson quoted in the Los Angeles Times.
“We were extremely saddened to learn of the tragic death of one of our employees,” wrote spokesperson Meredith Red in an email. “Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and co-workers.”
Emergency personnel were dispatched at 2:50 p.m. Friday to 6044 N. Ventura Canyon Ave., according to Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The worker was unconscious and dangling upside down when rescuers arrived, according to Stewart and a witness at the scene, who said the victim’s work vehicle, with an AT&T logo on it, was parked at the location.
The man was brought down and pronounced dead at the scene, Stewart said.
— Staff and wire reports