Authorities believe the men were sleeping in a dumpster that was later emptied into a trash truck while they were inside
NEED TO KNOW
- A man was found dead and another was found injured inside a garbage truck
- Police say the discovery was made when the truck stopped at a Long Island middle school on the morning of Thursday, May 29
- Officials are conducting an autopsy on the dead man to determine his cause of death
Police are investigating after two men were found — one alive, and the other dead — inside a garbage truck that was stopped outside a Long Island middle school.
The Suffolk County Police Department says the two men were in a dumpster located in Commack, New York, when it was emptied into a garbage truck in the early morning hours of Thursday, May 29. Authorities believe the men had been sleeping inside the dumpster.
The truck drove about five miles before stopping at William T. Rogers Middle School in Kings Park, where someone saw a person inside the back of the truck around 6:30 a.m. local time.
“That person was removed from the truck and transported to Huntington Hospital for treatment of a leg injury. The other man was pronounced dead at the scene,” a public information officer for the Suffolk County Police Department tells PEOPLE in a statement.
Officials don’t suspect criminal activity in this case, according to NBC affiliate WNBC.
Officials are conducting an autopsy on the dead man to determine his cause of death but the Associated Press reported that officials do not believe the man was dead before getting dumped into the truck.
Kings Park Central School District Superintendent Timothy Eagen said in an online statement that the incident is, “completely unrelated to our building, our students, or our staff,” adding that, “there is absolutely no threat to the safety of students, faculty or staff and the school day is operating as usual.”
