Update: Man dies weeks after found stuck in palm tree

(Editor’s Note: The attached news report shows Stout as Smith’s wife. That is incorrect, Stout is Smith’s girlfriend. Stout told News 11 they became engaged on her birthday in December.) A local man who was found stuck in a palm tree in Yuma nearly two weeks ago has died, according to those by his side. According to his girlfriend, Janice Stout, Kris Smith died on Valentine’s Day at 5:23 p.m. after he was taken off a ventilator the day before. His parents were by his side. “I got a phone call from his ICU nurse on my way back to the hospital. I parked my car, ran as fast as I could to the ICU unit. I was standing in the doorway to [his] room, seeing him and knowing I just missed his last breath by seconds. Falling to my knees, crying so hard,” Stout told News 11. Stout said Smith’s skin tissue will be donated to burn patients. The organ donor team from Phoenix was already there to assist. “Kris left this world giving just like he did always… Kris touched so many lives in such positive ways. I know he will be so greatly missed not only by me but also many many others,” Stout added. According to the Yuma Fire Department, firefighters responded to a report of a man stuck in a palm tree shortly before noon on February 7 at the 2200 block of West 20th Street. Firefighters arrived at the scene and found a man trapped in the canopy of a palm tree about 30 feet above the ground. Fire officials said the man was trimming the tree at the time. He was transported to the hospital.