A homeless man had a rough ride Monday morning after being dumped out of a dumpster into a Hot Springs Sanitation Department garbage truck.
During the morning disposal route, workers did not see anyone inside the dumpster at Pizza Hut, 108 Crawford Drive, before the container grabber locked into the bin's pockets and flipped the trash into the truck. It wasn't until the man was already inside the compression box that he was noticed.
"People typically hear the truck pull up and then get out," said Randy Atkinson, director of the Hot Springs Sanitation Department. "The grabber slides in the pockets on the side of the container and bumps it. With all the noise, I'm amazed he didn't wake up."
The man beat on the truck until the driver slid the side door open to the compression box and saw him. LifeNet and Hot Springs police officers responded to the scene and the man refused any treatment, according to Atkinson.
"It was dark outside and the man was dressed in camouflage," Atkinson. "He was buried down underneath cardboard to stay warm."
The garbage truck is a two-man operation, of a driver and the helper. The Hot Springs Sanitation Department runs three trucks on three routes. Before the container grabber slips into the pockets on a dumpster, the helper will look into the dumpster to verify no one is in it. They also observe the trash as it comes out of the dumpster, another precaution to make sure no bodies are in the dumpster.
"We do everything possible to check except climbing in and sifting through trash," Atkinson said. "The last time this happened was seven to eight years ago."
Local on 02/10/2016