Pasadena Man, 43, Found Dead Behind Wheel of Car

A 43-year-old Pasadena man died Monday morning after he was found slumped over the wheel of an SUV that was stopped near the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Madre Street, Pasadena police said.

No cause of death is immediately known, and the man’s identity was not yet released.

Pasadena police Lt. Pete Hettema said no foul play was suspected, and that no collision was believed to have taken place. The incident was reported around 6:15 a.m.

“It looks like a medical [situation],’’ Hettema told Pasadena Now.

Hettema said that when police and paramedics arrived at the scene at about the same time, the person who had reported the incident was pounding on the SUV’s window, trying to wake the man.

“The paramedics got there, tried to revive him, couldn’t find a pulse and scooted him off to the hospital, where we found later that he was pronounced (dead),’’ Hettema said.

The SUV was pointed in the wrong direction, but Hettema said it was not immediately clear on which street – Colorado or Madre – the vehicle was stopped.

Detectives were still investigating the matter, Hettema added.

“We’ll hear from the coroner eventually on that,’’ he said. “And they did call the coroner on him because of his age.’’

Hettema said the man’s family had been notified, and that there were “no pending medical (issues) that they knew of at the time.’’

The county coroner’s office did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking the dead man’s identity or a possible cause of death.