Presumed Dead, Man Starts Moving on the Way to Morgue
Firefighters declared the man dead, but he started breathing later.
— -- As far as the first responders could tell, the man was dead. He was cold and stiff, according to the medical examiner's report.
But then on the way to the morgue, he started moving.
The 46-year-old man's name has not been made public, but the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office report says that he hadn't been seen alive in two days when his girlfriend called police to check on him because she was unable to reach him. The fire department arrived at his apartment shortly after noon on Tuesday with the building manager and found the man "cold to the touch and in rigor," according to the report obtained by ABC News.
"They did not attempt to resuscitate him," the report says.
Someone arrived from the medical examiner's office at 1 p.m. and noted that the man was found at the foot of the bed, lying on his right side. He was cold and pale, but there was no discoloration associated with pooled blood that's often found in people who have died.
The family was notified at 2:20 p.m. -- but by 2:54, people who'd arrived to take the man to the medical examiner's office noticed that he began moving his left arm and right leg. He started spontaneously breathing, but the man still didn't seem to have a pulse.
The fire department returned to take him to the emergency room.
The man's brother told ABC affiliate station WISN that he was doing better.
The fire department's assistant chief Gerard Washington told ABC News he could not comment because of the ongoing internal investigation into the matter.
