KENOSHA, Wis. - A 4-year-old boy who hid inside a duffel bag that was placed out with the family trash was nearly crushed in a garbage truck's compactor before a sanitation worker heard him scream.
Jacob Deates had climbed inside the duffel bag just as the garbage truck came Monday morning. All the items were tossed into the truck, including the bag with the boy, said his mother, Jennifer Deates.
Trash collector Inis Ramadani said he was starting the compactor, and "as soon as the hopper started to run like this, I hear a scream." He stopped the compactor and then saw the boy, who was reaching out from the bag.
"I grabbed the boy and gently put him out and he ran to his house," said Ramadani, the father of a 3-year-old girl and two older boys. "It was a very frightening moment for me."
The boy was uninjured, police said.
Ronald Bursek, the city's public works director, said it was lucky Ramadani was outside the truck instead of in the cab when he started up the compactor, because he could hear better.
The boy apparently had an interest in garbage trucks and "kind of hid in (the trash) as the garbage truck came up," Bursek said.
