AUBURN - When mechanic Tim Walsh went to move a customer's car during the noon hour Friday, he found a man leaning back in the back seat with his feet propped up.
It wasn't a surprise to Walsh that the man was stretched out in a sports car left overnight for a repair job at the Bee Line Wheel Alignment Service shop. He had heard about a similar man from his boss, Dave Tarala, who had been finding someone sleeping in customers' cars for years. Tarala would wake him up and tell him to move along.
But this time, the white man about 50-years-old was dead.
Walsh shook the man's foot and hollered. When he didn't move, Walsh called the Auburn Police Department to respond to the parking lot at the southwest corner of the Arterial East and Seminary Avenue.
“I always thought I'd get him arrested. But I didn't have the heart,” said Tarala, who has owned Bee Line at 2 Seminary Ave. for the last year after having worked there for several years.
City police do not suspect foul play; no signs of trauma were found, they said. Alcohol or an asthmatic problem may have contributed to his death, they said. The official cause of death is still under investigation, awaiting the completion of an autopsy by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office.
Police did not identify the man Friday pending his positive identification and pending notification of any survivors. They said there are leads about his identity.
Tarala said he didn't know the man's name but that he knew him by sight. The man was known to sleep in parked cars at other automotive shops in the city, Tarala said.
He was skinny, “kind of scruffy with a beard,” Walsh said. He looked like he was 20 years older than his actual age, Tarala said. He had trouble walking and he had a problem with his eye, perhaps even having lost use of one of his eyes, Tarala added.
Within three hours of the body being found, the pace of business had returned to normal at Bee Line. Tarala worked on a car. Walsh took a phone call about parts needed for a repair and spoke with a customer about his completed repair job. But the manner of the man's death was just sad, Tarala and Walsh said.
“It always stinks,” Walsh said. “But ultimately it's the end of life. But it still stinks.”
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
But this time, the white man about 50-years-old was dead.
Walsh shook the man's foot and hollered. When he didn't move, Walsh called the Auburn Police Department to respond to the parking lot at the southwest corner of the Arterial East and Seminary Avenue.
“I always thought I'd get him arrested. But I didn't have the heart,” said Tarala, who has owned Bee Line at 2 Seminary Ave. for the last year after having worked there for several years.
City police do not suspect foul play; no signs of trauma were found, they said. Alcohol or an asthmatic problem may have contributed to his death, they said. The official cause of death is still under investigation, awaiting the completion of an autopsy by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office.
Police did not identify the man Friday pending his positive identification and pending notification of any survivors. They said there are leads about his identity.
Tarala said he didn't know the man's name but that he knew him by sight. The man was known to sleep in parked cars at other automotive shops in the city, Tarala said.
He was skinny, “kind of scruffy with a beard,” Walsh said. He looked like he was 20 years older than his actual age, Tarala said. He had trouble walking and he had a problem with his eye, perhaps even having lost use of one of his eyes, Tarala added.
Within three hours of the body being found, the pace of business had returned to normal at Bee Line. Tarala worked on a car. Walsh took a phone call about parts needed for a repair and spoke with a customer about his completed repair job. But the manner of the man's death was just sad, Tarala and Walsh said.
“It always stinks,” Walsh said. “But ultimately it's the end of life. But it still stinks.”
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
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