HANAHAN, SC (WCSC) -
Police say a man died early Tuesday after the lawn mower he was trying to steal from a Hanahan home fell on top of him.
According to Hanahan Police Lieutenant Michael Fowler, the incident happened outside a home on East Lakeside Drive around 5 a.m. East Lakeside Drive is located off North Rhett Avenue near Yeamans Hall Road.
Fowler said the suspect was loading the stolen riding lawn mower onto the bed of his pickup truck when it fell on him. Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury identified the man as 57-year-old Robert Eugene Catching, of Ladson.
At 4:49 a.m., officers responded to the intersection of E. Lakeside Drive and Holly Street in reference to someone stuck under a lawnmower. When officers arrived, they saw a man who appeared to be stuck under a red lawn mower which was on two large pieces of wood that were being used as a ramp at the rear of a truck.
Police officers report that the man did not appear to be trapped under the lawnmower, but was unresponsive.
The man who alerted police, said he was delivering newspapers in the area and saw the man under the lawnmower. Police say the man then called police and emergency crews to the scene.
Emergency medical crews then arrived on scene and determined the man to be deceased.
Investigators then spoke to a neighbor who said his lawnmower had been stolen. The neighbor then identified the lawnmower at the scene.
The coroner's office said there was no initial evidence of foul play.
Salisbury confirmed Wednesday Catchings died from a "cardiac event."
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