ORIGINAL 7:40 AM REPORT: A police investigation is under way in The Junction right now, and the north sidewalk on SW Alaska is cordoned off in the block between California SW and 44th. Det. Mark Jamieson in the SPD media unit confirms that they’re investigating a “deceased male” but says “it’s way too soon to tell if (he died) from natural or other causes.” He says the call came in from the Fire Department at 5:50 am; the 911 log shows an aid call to that area at 5:42 am. At the scene, what appears to be a covered body is visible just west of the bus waiting area between Easy Street and Twilight (behind the police car in our photo – we don’t show bodies, covered or not). Officers at the scene would say only that they were awaiting the Medical Examiner‘s arrival. The investigation has put a bus waiting area off limits, so riders are being directed to the next northbound stop along 44th. We’ll be checking with authorities later to find out whether this turns out to have been natural causes, or not. Thanks to those who e-mailed/called/texted about this; the first note was from Jonathon, who wrote, “When I arrived at my bus stop in the Junction around 5:45 this morning, a fire truck was just pulling up. A gentleman on a bicycle had called 911 out of concern for someone laying face-down in the alcove of the art collective. The cyclist had shaken the man but was unable to elicit a response. The firefighters also shook him and checked for a pulse; I couldn’t tell from where I was standing what they concluded, but the man certainly wasn’t moving.”
8:11 AM UPDATE: The body’s been removed and so has the police tape, so the bus area is open again. 8:42 AM NOTE: We checked back with Det. Jamieson, who notes that homicide detectives were not called out, so while an official cause of death isn’t in yet, that indicates no obvious sign of foul play. We will continue checking.
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