A young Florida boy narrowly escaped being crushed after hiding in a trash can during his playing time and threw it into a garbage truck.
Elias Quezada, 7, was playing outside his grandmother’s house in Hillsborough County when he decided to go into her trash can, the family told the NBC WFLA affiliate in Tampa. He was soon picked up and thrown into a sanitation truck that collected garbage in the neighborhood.
In a matter of seconds, Elias thought it would be “the end” for him.
“I was picked up and thrown where a mashed potato would be,” he said.
But, luckily for Elias, the driver was trained to look at all the cans on the truck’s surveillance camera when he was dumped in the rear. Waldo Fidele said he saw something fall and immediately turned off the truck’s blade. Fidele immediately called 911.
“I went out, I see him, he looked happy,” said Fidele. “I said OK, you’re fine now.”
Carmen Salazar, Elias’ grandmother, remembered the boy leaving for just a few minutes before suddenly hearing the sound of the truck and Fidele outside.
“I am very grateful that he was looking at that camera at the time and acted so fast,” said Salazar. “Because otherwise, he wouldn’t be here.”
