Tragedy narrowly averted for Arvada dumpster napper
By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 12:09 p.m., May 15, 2008
Updated 12:09 p.m., May 15, 2008
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A man who curled up to sleep in a big trash compactor in Arvada last night got a scary wake-up call when a worker hit the squeeze switch.
Luckily, the Colorado Cinemas Olde Town 14 employee "heard someone yelling from inside the dumpster and so she stopped the compactor," said Arvada Police Commander Kathy Foos.
"She started checking inside the dumpster and she could see there was certainly someone in there. So she called 911."
The near-tragedy behind the cinemaplex, Foos said, "sounded like a horror flick."
Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the scene just before midnight.
It took firefighters using the "jaws of life," "hydraulic rams" and a circular saw 45 minutes to free the man whose legs were pinned by the humongous metal vise.
"The major portion of it was just shoveling the trash out of the way ... so they could get in there and do the work they had to do," said Arvada Fire Department spokesman Scott Pribble.
Said Foos: "He told one of our officers that he crawled in there to sleep for the night. He claimed that he didn't have a place to spend the night."
"We also believe that there may be alcohol involved," she added.
The man was taken to a local hospital, where he was in fair condition today. Authorities would not release his name, because of medical privacy laws.
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May 15, 2008
12:21 p.m.
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LingLingfor_prez writes:
Kinda like Star Wars. Don't get stuck in the garbage compactor.
May 15, 2008
12:22 p.m.
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indisbelief writes:
They'll never get that smell out of the dumpster now...
May 15, 2008
12:24 p.m.
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kitty writes:
The company I work for has a compactor and we always run it until it is all the way in and the shut it off for the night & remove the key. This would be a way to avoid this near tragedy!
May 15, 2008
12:25 p.m.
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CaptainObvious writes:
Dang funny indisbelief!
Isn't this an ancient proverb? "He who sleeps in trash compactors gets dead..." or something like that?
May 15, 2008
12:44 p.m.
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olsonmt writes:
Ha, good one DoubleChubbyChuck. I thought it was Froward69. His posts started a little late this morning.
May 15, 2008
12:45 p.m.
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olsonmt writes:
Ha, good one DoubleChubbyChuck. I thought it was Froward69. His posts started a little late this morning.
May 15, 2008
1:05 p.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
I propose giving the employee one week of paid vacation for making an astute observation that averted the gruesome flattening of some poor drunk.
May 15, 2008
1:21 p.m.
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SteveC writes:
"We also believe that there may be alcohol involved," she added.
Gee do ya' think?
May 15, 2008
1:47 p.m.
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SeaBass writes:
I think we just found a way to solve the homeless problem in Denver.
May 15, 2008
1:56 p.m.
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Spencer writes:
yea doubledumb you and the olson twin are hilarious.
May 15, 2008
2:29 p.m.
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Gene writes:
And where is RMN analyst Mike Huttner, executive director of the liberal group Progress Now Action on this? Thought he was an expert on bums.
May 15, 2008
2:42 p.m.
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FloydHill writes:
Who gets to pay for all of the damage to the dumpster? Wait - I think I know.
May 15, 2008
2:46 p.m.
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Shaupeen writes:
"Kick his a$$ Sea Bass!"
May 15, 2008
4:46 p.m.
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mytwosense writes:
Gene: "And where is RMN analyst Mike Huttner, executive director of the liberal group Progress Now Action on this? Thought he was an expert on bums."
Wow, you really do have quite the expansive range in humor, Gene! I'm impressed, because I gotta admit, the thought of someone reduced to sleeping in a pile of garbage who came this close to dying an agonizingly painful death just doesn't strike me as all that funny, no matter how hard I try to see the "humor" in the situation.
Guess I need to lighten up!
May 15, 2008
6:13 p.m.
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HolierThanThou writes:
I take from some of the comments above that we have folks here who would observe that someone was stuck in a trash compactor and then continue running the machine until that person was dead.
May 15, 2008
6:48 p.m.
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PMSXpress writes:
Darwin award candidate. Almost anyway.
May 15, 2008
7:27 p.m.
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nicktaste writes:
what's up haters?
its sad to see a man reduced to sleeping this way just to survive
instead of hate, give pity a try
like mr t.
i pity da fool
May 16, 2008
12:09 a.m.
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redwhiteandBLUE writes:
Geez.. what happened to common sense ?