A man who appeared to be sleeping under a picnic table was found to be dead in Hofgaard Park in Waimea yesterday morning. Passersby notified police around 10 a.m., according to Mary Daubert, county spokeswoman. Police arrived on scene, saw
A man who appeared to be sleeping under a picnic table was found to be dead in Hofgaard Park in Waimea yesterday morning.
Passersby notified police around 10 a.m., according to Mary Daubert, county spokeswoman. Police arrived on scene, saw no visible signs of injury and called the medics.
Daubert said the man was an unidentified 47-year-old homeless male.
Marty Rivera of Kekaha, who was doing his laundry across the street around 8:45 a.m., said the man was walking around the park and acting intoxicated. Rivera left the laundromat briefly, but when he returned, the man was under the table.
“He looked like he was sleeping, but then I noticed he wasn’t breathing,” Rivera said. “I thought it was best to go to the police.”
Rivera went to the nearby police station and told the police about the man.
Laura Cristobal and Helene Valmoja, owners of the Aunty Lilikoi store, said they saw the man sleeping but they didn’t think much about it because they notice people sleeping in the park all the time.
Cristobal said someone must have called the cops and reported the man.
“I thought the cops would just wake him up and send him on his way,” she said. “There was one cop car, then another one and then there were three. I figured something was wrong then.”
Daubert said the cause of death will be determined pending an autopsy.
