Before Christmas, CHS reported on an incident involving an apparently homeless man found dead outside the E Madison Safeway on the morning of Thursday, December 19th.
Unusually cold Seattle weather and the circumstances of the man found dead in his wheelchair concerned many readers who had written or called us to find out more about the medic and police response that morning.
According to the King County Medical Examiner, Eric R. Leigh died on the 19th of heart disease. He was 56. CHS doesn’t know much more about the man but we wanted to update the details given the concern the initial report generated.
Thank you for the update. That one breaks my heart a little.
Thank you for update. I am now curious about if there is way to tell if being cold played a role. According to the American Heart Association heart failure causes most deaths in hypothermia. I asked this question on CD News as well.
It is quite likely that cold played a role. The incidence of heart attacks is much increased during cold snaps….as the body tries to keep the skin warm, there is less blood available to the heart muscle via the coronary arteries, which are already damaged from atherosclerosis.
I’ve known Eric for a few years, his friends would be happy to know people care.
Like many people who are homeless, Eric had a fear of staying indoors and struggled with alcohol.
Seeing him ride the metro all night, or sleeping in his wheel chair were common.
Bless you Eric for showing us that which we walk by every day in this city.