Brooklyn man is crushed to death by garbage compactor after climbing into chute
The Daily News identified the man as fifty-one-year-old David Lester, a homeless man known in the community
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A homeless man was found dead inside the chute of a garbage compactor of a Brooklyn building apartment.
The man was captured in surveillance video climbing into the compactor inside the Medgar Evers apartments in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
The Daily News identified the man as fifty-one-year-old David Lester, a homeless man known in the community.
Police responded to the 911 call of a rescue shortly before 4am on 12 August, the NYPD said in a statement to The Independent.
When they arrived at the building, officers found the man within the garbage compactor on the first floor of the apartment building. Mr Lester sustained body trauma indicative of being “crushed” by the compactor unit and was declared dead at the scene.
Authorities said that it is not believed Mr Lester’s death was suspicious and that he might have been trying to recover something from the compactor.
Surveillance video of the moment previous to the apparent freak accident obtained by NBC shows a man believed to be Mr Lester and a female and younger male in the hallway of the first floor.
The pair seemingly assist Mr Lester inside the compactor before he falls all the way down.
The younger man, wearing a blue baseball cap, then attempts to go inside the chute, while the unidentified woman holds the lower part of his body.
It is unclear what the men were trying to do, or what they were trying to recover from the compactor. NYPD said that an investigation remains ongoing.
The Daily News reported that Mr Lester was trying to retrieve a set of keys.