A man police say was likely homeless became trapped in a wooden newspaper stand while temperatures outside reached 90 degrees.
An elderly man was rescued from the brink of death after he somehow locked himself in a Los Angeles newspaper stand, where he was trapped in boiling heat for four days.
A passerby who heard the man moaning inside the wooden stand flagged down several LAPD officers Monday.
Officers freed the 84-year-old man by cutting rope and wires that were trapping him inside.
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Officer Eric Mollinedo told INSIDE EDITION: "He looked half dead."
The called for emergency personnel to the scene and grabbed water from a nearby business while they waited. They said a man downed a couple of bottles.
"He was dehydrated," Mollinedo said. "It was cold in the last few days. So he was living in there for shelter and he would tie the lock so no one would bother him.”
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However, when it recently warmed up considerably, "It got so hot he couldn’t undo it himself. He was disoriented."
The officers guessed it was 90 degrees outside and "probably 110" inside the box.
The man was still being treated on Tuesday. Social services are also trying to track down his family.
Watch: Firefighter Gives His Sneakers to Barefoot Homeless Man Walking on Highway
