West Kelowna man injured after being scooped up by garbage truck

A West Kelowna man seeking shelter survived two cycles of a garbage truck compactor with only minor injuries.

The man was discovered on the morning of Dec. 1, around 5:40 a.m., in the back of a garbage truck that was stopped at the 2100 block of Louie Drive.

RCMP said the driver of the truck first heard banging coming from inside the rear of his garbage truck.

“The operator had picked up a can and was moving on to the next job, and was cycling his compaction and started to hear a noise. So he pulled over, and when he got out of the vehicle he realized somebody was actually in the vehicle,” said Const. Mike Della-Paolera.

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The driver then contacted emergency services and West Kelowna Fire Rescue members were able to extricate the man.

The man had taken shelter in a dumpster in an effort to stay warm. Luckily, he only sustained minor injuries after being picked up.

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“I’m going to assume that they just started working and only picked up a couple of stops, which means there wasn’t a lot of trash inside the truck. So when the cycle happened, he was able to maybe escape further injury,” said Della-Paolera.

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Staying in dumpsters is just one extreme measure that the homeless population is taking to survive winter conditions.

“Self-medicating to stay warm because it does numb. We see people lighting fires in city parks, which is illegal,” said community advocate Heather Friesen.

“We see people doing a lot of things to try and stay warm and they’re not getting the help that they need.”

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Thursday’s incident is not an isolated experience. A previous accident happened in April, and a Penticton man died after being crushed by a recycling truck after apparently sleeping in a recycling dumpster.

Friesen says it will happen again and that a solution needs to be found before more people who live on the streets get hurt.

“People need to be more aware of what’s actually happening on the streets of Kelowna, and how dire the situation is becoming,” Friesen said.

The man was treated in hospital for injuries on his hands and feet and hypothermia.