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SOUTHBURY, Conn. (AP) — Friday's frigid weather may have contributed to the death of a street sweeper whose body was found after an early morning accident, police in Connecticut said.
The 47-year-old man's body was discovered at about 5:30 a.m. by police responding to a report that a small sweeper vehicle had crashed into the side of a building at the Southbury Green shopping center.
Police tell the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper that the man, whose name was not released, was lying on the ground outside the cab and could have been unconscious for an extended time before he was found.
An initial investigation found the man might have been leaning out of the sweeper to pick up trash and may have hit the gas pedal by accident. The sweeper crashed into a pillar and hit a side wall of the building, tossing him from the cab, police said.
Police said it did not appear the driver suffered any significant physical injuries in the crash, and he may have succumbed to the cold. Temperatures at the time were hovering around zero degrees (-17 Celsius).
The body was taken to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Farmington to determine the cause and manner of the man's death.
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