Detective David L. Taylor

David L. Taylor

Detective David Taylor succumbed to heat exhaustion while attempting to test surveillance equipment on a cell phone tower.

Detective Taylor, part of the agency's narcotics squad, was a technology expert working on a federal narcotics task force at the time. He and a federal agent had scaled the cell phone tower in 100 degree temperatures and were testing the equipment approximately 150 feet off the ground. He suddenly collapsed and fell approximately five feet before his harness caught him.

It took rescuers almost three hours to lower him to the ground, but by then, he had already expired. The agent working with him also suffered heat exhaustion while attempting to rescue him, but was treated and released.

Detective Taylor had been employed with the Greensboro Police Department for 11 years.