A Baltimore City Department of Public Works crew member died Friday after having a medical emergency while riding with his crew in a truck.

The worker, Ronald Silver II, experienced “a medical situation that required immediate assistance,” according to a statement from Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Acting Department of Public Works Director Khalil Zaied.

Silver worked in the department’s Bureau of Solid Waste. He died after emergency services were called to his location in the Barclay neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore, and he was taken to the hospital, according to the statement.

“We are still working with the crew and medical professionals who tended to Mr. Silver to understand the details of what occurred,” Scott and Zaied wrote in the statement.

“Our hearts are first and foremost with him, his family and loved ones, and his DPW colleagues as we grapple with this loss,” they wrote. “Administration and DPW leadership has been in touch with the Silver family, and we ask for privacy and respect for them, friends, and the entire DPW community during this difficult time. To support our DPW staff impacted by this loss, the City’s Employee Assistance Program and counseling are being offered.”

In his final moments, Silver exited his garbage truck and rang Gabby Avendano’s doorbell.

“I truly don’t know how he had the energy to do it,” Avendano said in an interview, adding that in her Ring Doorbell video he appears “so completely out of it and on the brink of death.”

Avendano said the sight of Silver alarmed her so much she immediately closed her door, thinking the person might have been on drugs based on his behavior. She faintly heard him plea for help, saying “wait, wait” and fall over on her doorstep. She asked if he needed water and he replied, “‘Just pour it on me,’” she said, and called 911. Soon he was unable to speak at all.

“He stopped breathing on my stoop,” Avendano said.

She said she called 911 first around 4:08 p.m., but when she wasn’t receiving assistance on the other end and noticed Silver’s coworker on the phone, she hung up, presuming he was speaking with 911. She later learned he was on the phone with his supervisors and had not contacted emergency services.

Avendano called again around 4:18 p.m. and the operator advised her to lay him down and begin chest compressions. Neighbors helped her bring him to the concrete in front of her home, but when chest compressions began, he started to vomit.

Firefighters arrived around 4:23 p.m. They performed CPR, and Silver was soon transported to the hospital.

Avendano said Silver’s coworker told her Silver had been complaining all day of leg, chest and hand pain, and couldn’t get out of the truck to do the job so his coworker needed to do it for him. She did not know the cause of the medical emergency was but presumed it was heat related based on the symptoms and responses from 911.

“He just looked like desperate and like his eyes were so wide. I recall them being like almost yellow … He was so wobbly and falling over,” she said “Why no one, his coworkers, never called 911 if he was behaving like that just completely boggles my mind,” she said.

The Baltimore City Health Department issued a Code Red Extreme Heat Advisory for Thursday through Saturday. On Friday, temperatures reached a high of 99 degrees.

In an email, DPW spokeswoman Mary Stewart said the department did not have additional details to offer outside of Scott and Zaied’s statement. “We stand by our official statement,” she wrote. The agency did not identify the facility where Silver worked, but Avendano said it was on the 700 block of Reedbird Avenue in Cherry Hill.

Silver’s death comes nearly a month after The Baltimore Office of the Inspector General released a report, and a week after a follow-up report, detailing poor working conditions at DPW facilities relating to keeping workers, many of whom labor outdoors, cool and hydrated on hot summer days.

Its investigation of the Cherry Hill facility noted broken ice machines, a cold-water faucet running hot water and a non-functioning HVAC system in the locker room, according to the July 10 report. Similar issues were seen at other facilities throughout the investigation. The report also indicated many of the trucks observed during site visits lacked air conditioning.

Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming said on Saturday that her office continues to investigate working conditions experienced by DPW employees.

Her office, she said, is “deeply saddened by this situation.”

Silver’s coworkers are mourning his death. Stancil McNair, a DPW worker since 2013 who has recently become an outspoken advocate against poor working conditions in the department, described him as a 36-year-old “working man” committed to looking after his family. Silver had children, McNair said, though he doesn’t know how many.

Ever since McNair arrived at DPW a decade ago, employees have been talking about unsafe working conditions and poor supervisors, he said. Two years ago, McNair said he had a stroke while on the job. His supervisor was dismissive, he said, when he reported feeling ill and experiencing chest pains. He later faced problems filing for workers’ compensation and went four months without a paycheck, he said.

Working on a sanitation vehicle is a dangerous job, McNair said. People who work on the trucks are close. Silver’s death will leave a hole on the team.

“It’s like a family back there, because we all understand each other,” he said. “When that man is gone, guess what? You hurt a lot of people. A lot of people.”