A single car crash left a man trapped and he suffocated in his burning car at 3:50 a.m. Tuesday.

There were no witnesses to the fatal crash that the Thousand Oaks Police Department and Ventura County Medical Examiner are still investigating.

A man in his bed at home across the street from the crash was awakened by the noise, called 911 and went outside to see a car destroyed by the tree. To the man who called authorities, it appeared the only person in the vehicle was already dead in the driver’s seat, said Senior Dep. Rick Godfrey.

When sheriff’s and fire department personnel arrived, the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames, officials said.

“He was alive enough to inhale smoke and carbon monoxide from the car fire. He died from asphyxiation,” said Senior Dep. Medical Examiner Craig Stevens.

The driver, thought to be 32 years old, was pinned in the wreckage, Stevens said.

Stevens was awaiting dental records being sent by overnight mail from New York so he could verify the identity of the victim and sole occupant of a silver 2005 Mercedes sedan that was eastbound on Avenida de Los Arboles when it left the road and hit a large pepper tree near Kensington Avenue.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

The impact with the tree pushed the car’s engine into the passenger compartment. The fire was so intense it melted the car’s metal, Godfrey said.

Toxicology test results will take 12 to 16 weeks, Stevens said.

—Nancy Needham