Man Crushed Twice In Alabama Garbage Truck Survives To Tell The Tale

Officials in Alabama are saying a man was crushed not just once, but two times in the back of a garbage truck.

Jackson Fire Chief John Brown said in all his time as a firefighter, he thought he'd seen everything, but this was not a call he'd ever gotten.

“I’ve been associated with the fire department for 40 years. We’ve never had a situation like this come up,” Brown said.

Emergency officials responded to a call of a person being compressed in a garbage truck around 5:30am Wednesday morning. Officials believe the man was compressed twice.

The first time he was compressed was at the KFC off Highway 43, then again at the Hampton Inn next door.

When the driver arrived at his next stop at a Popeyes, he heard someone calling from help from the back of the truck.

“It’s really a fortunate thing that the gates at the Popeyes were closed and the driver had to get out,” Brown said. “When he exited the dump truck, he could hear the man in the back needing help, and that’s when he shut everything down.”

Volunteer firefighter Mendy Boldin arrived on the scene, and was expecting the worst.

“We were all shocked because we thought, well, we’re going to have to get down there and really do some trauma assistance to him to get him out, but he was fine,” Boldin said.

Officials say the man was homeless and sleeping inside the dumpster to try and stay warm. He was taken to a hospital nearby to get treated.