CULVER CITY : Southland Man Killed by Elephant in Thailand
A rampaging elephant killed a 72-year-old Culver City man last week in a remote area of Thailand, a friend of the family said Tuesday.
Jerry Burton died after the elephant, which was used for transporting tourists, stormed into a village and picked up and hurled Burton to the ground with its trunk before crushing him, said Charles Perelman, who accompanied Burton and his wife, Elaine, on the trip. Perelman and Elaine Burton returned to the United States Sunday.
The three travelers had been awakened by the raging elephant and had attempted to escape their bamboo hut, Perelman said Tuesday. Burton, a retired businessman, ran the Boston Marathon in 1980 at age 60.
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