Man dies after accidentally locking himself inside freezer to hide from police: Report

A Minnesota man died last month after he accidentally trapped himself inside a chest freezer, perhaps in an attempt to hide from police, reports say.

On the afternoon of June 26, the Gilbert Police Department received a call about a man discovered dead in a freezer in a vacant home in Biwabik, Minnesota, about an hour north of Duluth. When cops arrived, they found the body of Brandon Lee Buschman, a 34-year-old resident of Babbitt, Minnesota, who had a warrant out for his arrest. Now a preliminary autopsy report suggests that Buschman had not suffered any "trauma or injury" which might explain his death. A full toxicology report will not be available for several weeks, a statement from Gilbert police said.

With so few details available, police are still trying to understand the events which led to Buschman dying inside the freezer. At the time his body was discovered, the appliance was not running since electricity and other utilities at the residence had been cut off over a year earlier, and the house had not been occupied since February.

Police believe that Buschman — who had an outstanding felony warrant for allegedly violating probation in connection to a previous drug offense — may have been spooked when he spotted officers in the area. Whether the officers were there searching for Buschman is unclear, but Buschman was reportedly last seen "fleeing from the upstairs area of the house due to a possible police presence near the residence." He then found the freezer in the basement and likely jumped inside of "his own accord," the police statement said.

Unfortunately, the older-model freezer cannot be "pushed open from the inside," the statement claimed. Police did find a metal rod "inserted from inside the freezer" and "jammed between the gasket and the manufactured edge," likely Buschman's last-ditch efforts to free himself from the icebox.

Police are still working to "narrow down the timeline" and determine more precisely when Buschman entered the freezer.

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