Newspaper vendor locked inside Los Angeles stand for four days

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Los Angeles police said a newspaper vendor is lucky to be alive after being locked inside his wooden stand for four days without food or water.

Investigators said the 84-year-old vendor somehow became locked inside his wooden structure near Western Avenue and Pico Boulevard and was rescued Monday after a passerby reported hearing moaning coming from inside the structure.

Officer Eric Mollinedo tweeted a picture of the man being lifted out of the newspaper stand by responding officers who cut through the lock on a structure.

The man was taken to a hospital to be treated for dehydration and malnutrition. Police said the man was in stable condition and is recovering.

Police spokesman Dikram Melkonian said the man is lucky to be alive.

"Very fortunate, especially with the heat wave that we're having these last few days," Melkonian told KABC-TV. "I mean, the situation in that tight spot and the heat going on, and he was completely undernourished, and his dehydration level was so low, so weak and lethargic."