Utility worker dies while working on power pole in Valley Glen

VALLEY GLEN, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A utility worker has died after being found dangling from a power pole in Valley Glen Friday.

Authorities responded to the 6000 block of Ventura Canyon Avenue at about 3:20 p.m. and found the unidentified worker unconscious. Officials initially thought the worker had been electrocuted because of the live wires, but they now believe the man had a medical emergency.

One resident spoke with the worker just minutes before the incident, offering him a bottle of water. He told another neighbor that he would only be up on the pole for about 10 minutes.

A long time later, the man was still up on the pole, and neighbors could tell something was wrong. Several of them called 911.

"Half an hour later, she noticed that he was hanging there. She called me and my brother, and we saw him hanging there, and that's when my brother called 911," said Glen Berg of Valley Glen.

The Department of Water and Power assisted LAFD in getting the worker down.