Man found dead under car at Vancouver shop ID’d

The man who died Thursday when a car fell on him while he was allegedly attempting to steal its catalytic converter was identified as a 29-year-old Kent Raymond Williams of Vancouver.

The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office, which released the ID, determined that Williams died of traumatic asphyxia from compression of the torso.

The owner of Four Seasons Auto Repair and Tire Center in east Vancouver, Faazan Ahmed, said Williams is seen on surveillance video in the shop’s parking lot jacking up a silver Mercedes around 2 a.m. The jack tipped over and the car fell on him.

Williams’s body wasn’t discovered until after 7 a.m., when a neighbor noticed a man under a car.

The Vancouver Police Department was dispatched at 7:41 a.m. and the fire department and an ambulance responded at 7:44 a.m., according to emergency dispatch logs. Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.

People often steal catalytic converters for the precious metals inside. Ahmed said Williams had three or four of the parts in his car already.