Man found in flooded street near tipped-over wheelchair was homeless, sheriff says

Officials have identified the 61-year-old old man whose body was found face-down in a flooded street Sunday with his tipped over wheelchair nearby.

Greg E. Morovits was found just before 9 p.m. Sunday under six inches of water due to heavy rains in the 6900 block of 44th Court East in the Sara Palms subdivision in Sarasota, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Morovits’ wheelchair was also found, tipped over, not far away.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened,” sheriff’s office spokesman Dave Bristow said. “The autopsy so far has not given a definitive cause of death.”

The Medical Examiner’s Office is hoping that toxicology results will help provide more answers, he added. Those results typically take several weeks, however.

“But there is no suspicion of foul play,” Bristow said.

Morovits has been homeless for several years, according to the sheriff’s office. As a result, detectives were having difficulty finding any family to notify.

Several neighbors on 44th Court East said they didn’t see Morovits on the day he drown. But neighbors have previously seen homeless people in a palm tree-filled lot on one side of the cul-de-sac, they said. The lot has a clear path to Whitfield Avenue, and there is often a homeless camp in the wooded area across the street on the northwest corner of Whitefield Avenue and Lockwood Ridge Road.

“We think he may have most recently been living there,” Bristow said.

There were no signs of foul play and it is believed Morovits either had a medical episode or drowned, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dave Bristow told the Bradenton Herald Monday, but the investigation is ongoing. The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause of death following an autopsy.

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Man found in flooded street near tipped-over wheelchair was homeless, sheriff says."