Man Stung, Dies Trying to Catch Swarm of Bees

A man died Wednesday after he was stung repeatedly while trying to capture a swarm of bees near a home in Valinda, authorities said.

Andres Chavez, 57, of Hollywood was pronounced dead at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said. An autopsy was scheduled, investigators said.

Chavez’ death was the county’s first fatal bee attack in two years, said Robert Donley, deputy director of the environmental protection bureau of the county agriculture commissioner’s office.

Witnesses said Chavez arrived at the location on Calcutta Avenue to pick up a truck at about 2:20 p.m., when he noticed a large swarm of bees hovering above the sidewalk, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Art Fransen.

Chavez suggested to two friends who lived at the house that they try to catch the bees, Fransen said. When the friends declined, Chavez went out to the sidewalk alone to trap the bees in a wooden box in which he had placed some sugar, the sergeant said.

“I guess he just tried to scoop them up in the box,” Fransen said. “No one actually saw that part of it.”

Guillermo Sastre told sheriff’s investigators that he heard Chavez scream and ran out to the street to find his friend’s head and face covered with swarming bees.

Sastre said he helped Chavez to a chair on the porch, where Chavez pleaded with his friends to remove the numerous bees and stingers from his head, Fransen said.

Neighbors said Chavez had apparently stopped breathing by the time paramedics arrived. They were unable to revive him.

After attacking the man, the swarm alighted on a fence post, where neighbors found Chavez’ eyeglasses and the wooden box he had tried to use as a bee trap. The bees remained passively on the post as news crews and curious neighbors gathered.

Judging by the non-aggressive behavior of the bees on the fence post, Donley said it is unlikely that the swarm is composed of “Africanized” honeybees believed moving toward this country from South America.

Instead, the bees appear to be members of the much more common and docile Italian strain of honeybee, he said. But to be certain they are not “Africanized,” a county apiary inspector will send some of the bees to the state Department of Agriculture for analysis.

Bee swarms such as the one that attacked Chavez are most common in the spring, as hive populations swell, causing bees to set out by the hundreds looking for a place to start a new hive, Donley said. The county receives between 300 and 500 reports of bee swarms annually, but there are usually no more than 20 cases of multiple bee stings each year.

Martinez who spoke with Gutierrez after the fatal stinging, said Chavez’ friend was uncertain why the man tried to catch the bees.

“Maybe he wanted to get some honey,” Martinez said, shaking his head. “That’s crazy to do something like that.”