A 54-year-old man who was reported to be trapped inside a donation bin Friday morning near South Los Angeles was pronounced dead after being cut out of the metal bin.
Officials were trying to solve the mystery of why the man was in the bin and why he died in the tight quarters.
Firefighters were called about 10:10 a.m. to the 9600 block of South Vermont Avenue on a call of a man trapped, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The man, identified by the coroner’s office as Reggie Sterling of Los Angeles, was pronounced dead at the scene, a dispatcher said.
Neighbors told reporters that firefighters used a power saw to cut the red metal bin open.
A call to the phone number on the bin yielded a no-longer-in-service message, and a message sent to the listed email address was returned undeliverable, according to a report from the scene.
— City News Service