The Los Angeles International Airport worker who died in February when he fell out of a baggage tractor while not wearing a seat belt had a heart ailment that may have contributed to the accident, according to a report from the Los Angeles Department of Coroner.
The report suggested that Cesar Valenzuela, 51, might have fallen ill before he fell out of the tug and was run over by it. Valenzuela was found by airport workers lying on the ground pinned under the tug’s left front tire, according to the report. Paramedics said he was dead at the scene.
Blunt trauma is listed as the cause of death, but the report adds hypertrophic heart disease — a disorder in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick — as a contributing factor. Investigators interviewed Valenzuela’s supervisor, who noted that, on the morning of the accident, he “... looked ill and pale and his mannerisms were not usual,” according to the report.
