Homelessness

Bin-sleeper dumped by rubbish truck

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(The Pavement, 21 May 2009) A homeless man who sought shelter in a bin in New Hampshire, US, was left with minor injuries after being inadvertently thrown into a rubbish-compacting truck.

Guy Stevens, 41, had been sleeping in the bin for nearly two weeks, but on this particular morning the rubbish was collected early. He managed to jump from the truck, but was left with minor injuries and was later seen limping down the street. Mr Stevens was subsequently taken to jail after police discovered he was wanted on a theft charge dating back to 2005.

This is not the first time such an accident has happened. In Ireland last September, Kevin Fitzpatrick was crushed to death when the industrial wheeled bin he was sleeping in was emptied into a rubbish-collection lorry. His remains were found by workers sorting through waste at a recycling depot outside the city.

The 36-year- old, originally from Derbyshire, was believed by police to have arrived in Limerick just that weekend. At the time, the director of health and social charity Trust reported that a similar tragedy had been averted just weeks earlier, after a driver collecting a skip noticed someone was inside it. Meanwhile in 2006, 44-year-old Robert Baswell sustained injuries including broken legs and ribs, after he found himself in a rubbish truck after falling asleep in a Florida bin.

http://www.thepavement.org.uk/story.php?story=405

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