Investigators are trying to determine what a man was doing near an electrical box shortly before he caught fire and died in the Westlake neighborhood of Central Los Angeles Tuesday morning.
Authorities received a call just before 4 a.m. about a man on fire near the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and South Rampart Boulevard, Los Angeles Police Department Det. Meghan Aguilar said.
Firefighters had already put out the fire and determined the man was deceased when officers arrived, Aguilar said.
The woman who initially called authorities did not know what the man was doing by the electrical box prior to the fire.
Investigators are also trying to determine what happened.
“What they believe happened was he was trying to access that box. He was electrocuted and most likely at that point caught on fire,” Aguilar said.
The victim, who has not been identified, was not a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power worker, Aguilar said.
It will be up to the coroner to identify the victim and determine an official cause of death.
Power to the box has been cut, however, electricity to surrounding homes and businesses has not been interrupted, Aguilar said.
Crews plan to return later to make repairs, but have put up a temporary cover in the meantime.
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Source: “Los Angeles” – Google News