Suspected pair of lungs found on LA sidewalk

LOS ANGELES — Authorities are investigating what appear to be a pair of lungs found on a sidewalk in South Los Angeles.

A woman called to report finding what she believed to be the organs at 8:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. ET) Sunday in the 13100 block of Avalon Boulevard.


 

Sheriff's deputies responded to the scene, and the coroner's office was also called.

Additional testing will determine if the remains are in fact lungs and whether they are human, police said.

Read the original story at NBC33TV.com

Sgt. Robert Dean of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, told the Los Angeles Times: "We don't know what they are. It's really weird."

Ed Winter, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's office, told the newspaper the possible organs were not attached to a body, and he found the situation "a little strange." He said it was unclear when the examination would be performed.

NBC33 is an affiliate of NBC News.

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Heavy smoker who coughed his lungs out??????

  • 47 votes
#1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:29 AM EDT

Ed Winter, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's office, told the newspaper the possible organs were not attached to a body, and he found the situation "a little strange."

lol

  • 37 votes
#1.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:52 AM EDT

Lizard,

I was just about to post the same thought!!! :o) Dang, I have to get up earlier. LOLOLO

  • 12 votes
#1.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:13 AM EDT

I thought I'd tossed mine out after creating about ten feet of pavement pizza once - man what a night! I think I drank both of those fifths by myself...

  • 2 votes
#1.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:13 AM EDT

Probably pork lungs. The Chinese make various dishes with these and they look very similar to human lungs.

I wonder what the "coroner" would have thought if he would have seen a rack of baby back ribs on the sidewalk?

  • 13 votes
#1.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:42 AM EDT

The M.E. says "..."a little strange." Oh, I forgot...California.

  • 25 votes
#1.5 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:44 AM EDT

There seem to be a sudden and increasing number of cannibalistic attacks. I'm concerned.

  • 20 votes
#1.6 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:09 AM EDT

Someone should get a hold of Rex Smith - he might be able to help out with a clue (or two)...

    #1.7 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:36 AM EDT

    Shuklack

    That was funny. I'm sure the police and coroner would've noticed a body attached to the lungs. My son wondered where Ed Winter got his medical degree. I told him he was just a spokesman. His answer was, "But still...".

    • 6 votes
    #1.8 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:00 AM EDT

    California is full of nutjobs.

    • 6 votes
    #1.9 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:06 AM EDT

    How did Ed Winter ever manage to determine that the lungs were not attached to a body? Is he qualified to make that determination? At least it's only a "little strange" to him.

    • 14 votes
    #1.10 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:24 AM EDT

    Perhaps a zombie just got full and couldn't finish his meal...

    • 18 votes
    #1.11 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:29 AM EDT

    I heard the expression or " I'm going to rip your lungs out"............I guess someone got pissed enought to do it.

    • 13 votes
    #1.12 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:35 AM EDT

    Not just totally strange but really gross. I'm trying not to imagine what they looked like.

      #1.13 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:38 AM EDT

      Anti-smoking stunt was my first thought.

      • 4 votes
      #1.14 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:47 AM EDT

      Perhaps a carnivorous zombie concerned with the risk of 2nd hand smoke? Maybe he just "ate around" the smoke-infested lungs? It is California, after all!

      • 10 votes
      #1.15 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:48 AM EDT

      Perhaps a carnivorous zombie

      Lungs give zombie's gas.

      • 18 votes
      #1.16 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:51 AM EDT

      Come on people... Obviously it was a zombie who dropped his lunch on his/her/its way to work. Can't they just live in pieces... er peace?

      • 10 votes
      #1.17 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:02 AM EDT

      Not unusual in California, I see a many great pair of lungs on the streets down there...

      • 10 votes
      #1.18 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:25 AM EDT

      sounds like blackmarket organ trade.

      • 2 votes
      #1.19 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:32 AM EDT

      Bet they are two small Jellyfish...not lungs.

      • 1 vote
      #1.20 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:55 AM EDT

      I am at a loss for words. Last year it was a woman in Ontario Ca. with a torso in a trashcan rolling down a residential street asking for help in disposing it, now this. a few years back I read a story about woman in Compton looking out her kitchen window and saw dog trotting down the street with a human arm hanging from its mouth! I live in California and I am at a loss!

      • 2 votes
      #1.21 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:25 PM EDT

      I wonder what is considered 'really' strange to this guy?

      • 5 votes
      #1.22 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:36 PM EDT

      Just one of ediets.com's 100 simple ways to lose weight commercials, oh wait, lungs arn't on the list.

        #1.23 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:52 PM EDT

        Gives a whole new meaning to the expression, "taking a breather".

        • 1 vote
        #1.24 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:06 PM EDT

        Taxes are a bit high in LA so maybe they came out with fresh air tax and someone just got fed up and decided to just stop breathing

        • 1 vote
        #1.25 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:29 PM EDT

        I love Ed Winter's statement to the newspaper, that the lungs were not attached to a body? Good deduction Ed.

        • 1 vote
        #1.26 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:35 PM EDT

        Those weren't lungs! I saw this huge dog chasing Al Sharpton down the street last night, on that same block, then I hear this loud high pitched scream, I always new that man had some balls and that they would get him into trouble some day. the strange part is that his were inflatable, like a puff fish when you get in trouble you puff them up to to scare your opponent, it didn't work on the dog.

        • 1 vote
        #1.27 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:53 PM EDT

        Some nut job proberly bought the lungs off the street for his sick Mom with lung cancer. Some seriously messed up people in America now. I would say only in California, but anymore, this could be anyoe's home town.

        • 1 vote
        #1.28 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:43 AM EDT
        Reply

        oops that's where I left those

        • 17 votes
        Reply#2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:34 AM EDT

        What EXACTLY are these lungs suspected of doing?

        • 5 votes
        #2.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:03 AM EDT

        Got lost on their way to a transplant?

        • 4 votes
        #2.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:15 AM EDT

        Typical PETA stunt...

        • 2 votes
        #2.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:55 AM EDT

        I agree with 2-sence, proberly were on their way to a transplant and something went wrong.

          #2.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:46 AM EDT
          Reply

          Another Bath Salt attack maybe? could be a sign?

          • 4 votes
          Reply#3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:37 AM EDT

          The zombie apocalypse is upon us!!!! Get your guns and aim for the brain!

          • 24 votes
          #3.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:00 AM EDT

          Uhm, if they're zombies do they have a brain?

          • 2 votes
          #3.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:32 AM EDT

          Yep, Zombies. The Zombie disease is something the CDC won't acknowledge, just like Washington won't acknowledge UFO's.

          • 6 votes
          #3.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:46 AM EDT

          It's safer to just stab them in the head. The noise of gun fire will just attract more. We must take extreme precautions during these trying times! lol.

          P.S. Yes, befuddled, Zombies do still have brains. It's the part of the body that is infected, leaving only the primal urge to feed alive. That's the whole premise of a zombie. Duh. lol. j/k about the "duh" part ;)

          • 9 votes
          #3.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:55 AM EDT

          Aim for the brain? Do they even have those in California?

          • 4 votes
          #3.5 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:09 PM EDT

          Dirtydog

          Go to the CDC website they have information on what to do in the event of a "Zombie Apocalypse" for some time now..No joke(there really is a few web pages on Zombie Apocalypse on the CDC website).

          went on it to make sure it is still there...

          http://www.bt.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies.asp

            #3.6 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:43 PM EDT

            Andrew, thanks for the info. I have to get one of those badges for my facebook page!

              #3.7 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:58 PM EDT
              Reply

              Boy does she have a set of lungs!

              • 9 votes
              Reply#4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:39 AM EDT

              Not anymore....

              • 6 votes
              #4.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:31 AM EDT

              Worse case of organ rejection I have ever seen.

              • 18 votes
              #4.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:37 AM EDT

              gtouch, funny stuff :D

              • 1 vote
              #4.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:41 PM EDT
              Reply

              big hit of bath salts.....hack,cough.

              • 3 votes
              Reply#5 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:44 AM EDT

              A suspected pair of lungs?....suspected of what?

              • 37 votes
              Reply#6 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:55 AM EDT

              BMette, just what I was thinking. Weird.

              • 1 vote
              #6.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:23 AM EDT

              That's exactly what I was thinking. What did they do? Breathe?

              • 7 votes
              #6.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:39 AM EDT

              Suspected? What could possibly be masquerading as a pair of lungs?

              • 9 votes
              #6.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:28 AM EDT

              Probably charged with vagrancy-no visible means of support.

              • 17 votes
              #6.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:09 AM EDT

              Maybe they're like the empty pair of pale green pants and all they want is a friend.

                #6.5 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:39 AM EDT

                Suspected ARM robbery?

                • 1 vote
                #6.6 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:26 AM EDT

                loitering.

                • 5 votes
                #6.7 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:40 AM EDT

                Aw! BMette, You stole what I was thinking! LOL

                  #6.8 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:00 AM EDT

                  Heavy breathing. :)

                  • 1 vote
                  #6.9 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:09 AM EDT

                  The stupid headline should read "possible" not "suspected".

                  • 1 vote
                  #6.10 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:11 PM EDT

                  What color was the suspect, er mean lungs?

                  • 1 vote
                  #6.11 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:57 PM EDT
                  Reply

                  It's LA, in California. Nothing surprising. Where's the news?

                  • 10 votes
                  Reply#7 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:58 AM EDT

                  They belonged to Octomom .... there wasn't room in there for lungs and 8 fetuses.

                  • 13 votes
                  #7.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:31 AM EDT

                  The most comforting thing about the story is it didn't take place in Miami.

                  • 15 votes
                  #7.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:33 AM EDT

                  Amen to that

                    #7.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:51 AM EDT

                    Yea, they only found a pair of kidneys on a doorstoop in Miami last night... LMAO!

                      #7.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:26 PM EDT
                      Reply

                      Huh!?! The coroner doesn't know what a set of lungs look like unless they are attached to a body? Now that is the kind of coroner that every county needs....lol Good grief says Charlie Brown.

                      • 13 votes
                      Reply#8 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:02 AM EDT

                      Ed Winter is a Coroner Investigator for LA County, not an MD

                        #8.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:57 PM EDT

                        LA coroner job qualifications: Just able to show up for work.

                          #8.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:00 PM EDT
                          Reply

                          Please tell me that if a picture was attached to this piece of news everyone and their brother could tell you what they were looking at! This is the information age, and it would take approximately 30 seconds to look up the human anatomy online. Please give me some solid news MSNBC... I love you guys!

                          • 2 votes
                          Reply#9 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:37 AM EDT

                          A lot of organs look similar across species.

                          

                          Please tell me that if a picture was attached to this piece of news everyone and their brother could tell you what they were looking at! This is the information age, and it would take approximately 30 seconds to look up the human anatomy online.

                          ah yeah, coming from the same people who identify every ailment as 'definitely cancer' lol

                          • 1 vote
                          #9.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:55 AM EDT
                          Reply

                          where's my detachable penis?

                          • 6 votes
                          Reply#10 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:37 AM EDT

                          Oh......hangin' around probably.

                          • 7 votes
                          #10.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:20 AM EDT

                          @sledgehammer4664 - if you need a replacement try Popeils Pocket Penis! Handy lil device you can take with you everywhere you go!

                          • 7 votes
                          #10.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:24 AM EDT

                          Hmmm........."pocket penis". I learn something new everytime I come on these threads. I only heard about "pocket pussies". How convenient. Off the subject again, but very interesting indeed, I must say.

                          • 3 votes
                          #10.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:47 AM EDT

                          Couldn't stand the a-hole anymore, probably ran off with the nutty neighbors.

                            #10.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:02 PM EDT
                            Reply

                            Perhaps the Werewolf of London? Warren Zevon indicated he'd rip your lungs out!!!

                            • 6 votes
                            Reply#11 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:39 AM EDT

                            Their former owner's name was Jim, so that should narrow it down.

                            • 6 votes
                            #11.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:17 AM EDT

                            I just want to meet his tailor!

                            • 2 votes
                            #11.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:04 AM EDT

                            He was drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's
                            And his hair was perfect

                            • 1 vote
                            #11.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:16 AM EDT

                            Howoooooo

                            • 1 vote
                            #11.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:15 PM EDT

                            A little old lady was mutilated late last night.... (Disclaimer: not really, its a verse from the song.)

                            • 2 votes
                            #11.5 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:09 PM EDT
                            Reply

                            This is troll heaven !!!

                            • 8 votes
                            Reply#12 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:39 AM EDT

                            Takes the phrase "I'm going out for a breath of fresh air" to a whole new level...

                            • 20 votes
                            Reply#13 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:54 AM EDT

                            Ha-ha!

                            • 3 votes
                            #13.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:52 AM EDT

                            Good one!

                              #13.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:24 AM EDT
                              Reply

                              Wow, they say the smog is bad in LA, but I had no idea....

                              • 8 votes
                              Reply#14 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:59 AM EDT

                              Godless society. Will these Lungs , be voting for obama?

                              • 1 vote
                              Reply#15 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:59 AM EDT

                              SprtstrXLCH banned, multiple of meltdown69, also banned. Don't register multiple accounts, folks!

                              • 3 votes
                              #15.1 - Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:16 PM EDT
                              Reply

                              Organ trafficking.

                              • 5 votes
                              Reply#16 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:01 AM EDT

                              Good one!

                                #16.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:51 AM EDT

                                I think they go with the feet found up in Canada. Sounds like the guy cutting up bodies was dropping pieces off all over the place. The feet he put in the mail but maybe he ran out of money for postage so he just left the lungs on the side walk.

                                • 2 votes
                                #16.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:25 AM EDT

                                Maybe they were going by Air Mail!!!!

                                • 3 votes
                                #16.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:28 AM EDT

                                Or organ IN traffic.

                                • 2 votes
                                #16.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:31 AM EDT

                                Probably on his way to Organ and got laid over at LAX

                                • 1 vote
                                #16.5 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:31 PM EDT

                                Interestingly enough, I've been laid at LAX before also -

                                • 2 votes
                                #16.6 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:55 PM EDT
                                Reply

                                Breathe deep......

                                  Reply#17 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:25 AM EDT

                                  Stories like this really take my breath away!

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #17.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:13 AM EDT

                                  We will breath a collective sigh of relief if these are not human lungs.

                                  • 3 votes
                                  #17.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:32 PM EDT
                                  Reply

                                  Medical College students playing a prank--took a specimen from the lab, left it where it would be found, and is reading these comments and snickering.

                                  Organ trafficking.

                                  Organs meant for transplant got lost in transit.

                                  Organs meant for medical experimentation lost in transit.

                                  The people from the show 'Oddities' lost a bit of their collection.

                                  Medical waste after an autopsy fell off the truck.

                                  Voodoo/Santeria ritual (unlikely but possible)

                                  Ancient Maya/Aztec/MesoAmerican ritual called the 'blood eagle' where as a sacrifice to the gods a victim was stretched out on an altar, tied down, his ribcage was slit/cracked and his lungs--still attached and functioning-- were pulled from his torso and spread out on his chest. It would take days for the victim to die of exposure and thirst. I believe it was a last-ditch sacrifice to the gods to break a drought or prevent disaster or after an earthquake. In this case, maybe someone did it to stave off the December 2012 world ending? They obviously didn't know archaeologists found evidence at a new dig that the Mayan calendar does go on for another 5,000 year baktun. Also unlikely but still possible in this crazy world.

                                  These lungs may not be human, could be animal from an animal necropsy.

                                  Perhaps a serial killer is going to start leaving body parts around LA as trophies of his kills.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  Reply#18 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:33 AM EDT

                                  like the last example. it will be on L&O next season.count on it.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #18.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:46 AM EDT

                                  It would take days for the victim to die of exposure and thirst.

                                  No... someone who was disemboweled and had their organs left sitting outside their skin (regardless of whether the organs were still attached and functional) would be dead within hours from circulatory shock. If anyone tells you it'd take days and they'd die of thirst, they're just embellishing and trying to make the legend sound sexier.

                                  • 3 votes
                                  #18.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:52 AM EDT

                                  if your lungs are pulled out of your body you would die within moments as you wouldnt be able to breath. the diaphram is the muscle that moves up and down to fill and empty the lungs. it couldnt do anything outside the ribcage.

                                  • 6 votes
                                  #18.3 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:17 AM EDT

                                  For sure ya think? ( biting nails )..........lol

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #18.4 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:27 AM EDT

                                  if your lungs are pulled out of your body you would die within moments as you wouldnt be able to breath. the diaphram is the muscle that moves up and down to fill and empty the lungs. it couldnt do anything outside the ribcage.

                                  Yeah, and that too, lol.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #18.5 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:38 AM EDT

                                  I pulled that from a couple of different sources, so you are probably right. The ritual itself is fascinating, though unlikely to be the cause in this case.

                                    #18.6 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:23 PM EDT
                                    Reply

                                    Wow. Somebody will be missing those things!

                                    • 1 vote
                                    Reply#19 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:36 AM EDT

                                    [Cops seal off area and surround suspect]..... OK, don't move....Put your hands in the air.... Don't even breath!!!!

                                    • 8 votes
                                    Reply#20 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:41 AM EDT

                                    maybe they were saddlebags from an old John Wayne movie? huh mr. coroner? ever think of that? or perhaps ass shavings from kim kardashian surgery? jlo? oprah?

                                    • 2 votes
                                    Reply#21 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:42 AM EDT

                                    Low blow!

                                      Reply#22 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:06 AM EDT

                                      OK.. Ive heard of "Beating the @!$%#" out of somebody but... DAMN !!!

                                      • 5 votes
                                      Reply#23 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:16 AM EDT

                                      talk about coughing up a lung......but really hope there not....

                                      • 1 vote
                                      Reply#24 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:26 AM EDT

                                      medical marijuana is some harsh stuff, you cough you get off

                                      • 1 vote
                                      #24.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:30 AM EDT
                                      Reply

                                      If they found them in water, would they be aqua lungs?

                                      • 9 votes
                                      Reply#25 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:30 AM EDT

                                      THAT"S IT! These are probably stage props for the upcoming Jethro Tull reunion tour, that fell off the truck on the way to the gig!

                                      • 2 votes
                                      #25.1 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:06 AM EDT

                                      They looked to be thick as a brick.

                                        #25.2 - Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:03 PM EDT
                                        Reply
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