Tree trimmer’s body found hanging upside-down 50 feet in the air, California rescuers say

A tree trimmer died Saturday, April 9, after being spotted hanging upside-down 50 feet in the air, Los Angeles firefighters reported.

Rescuers responded to reports of a man hanging from a tree near Studio City at 12:07 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Nearly 40 firefighters used ladders, ropes and harnesses to lower the man to the ground, but he could not be revived, firefighters said.

Firefighters spotted live wires near the tree but it’s not yet known how the man died, the department said. It’s not clear how long he was in the tree before being spotted.

Officials are still working to identify his employer and determine what happened, KTLA reported.

The Los Angeles County Coroner-Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as David Cerigioni, 70, KCBS reported. His daughter told the station her father had worked in the field for 50 years.

“He was still really amazing at it,” Heather Cerigioni said. “He could climb so high — like a monkey — that’s just what he loved to do. He’d been doing it since he was 19.”

This story was originally published April 10, 2022 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Tree trimmer’s body found hanging upside-down 50 feet in the air, California rescuers say."