APPLETON, WI (WBAY/CNN) – A man wanted for a parole violation was almost killed when he tried to hide from police in a recycling bin.
A police lieutenant noticed a disturbance in an Appleton, WI, parking lot Tuesday and circled back to the scene to check things out.
"As soon as he pulled into the parking lot, this individual that fled was actually in a vehicle, saw the squad car pull in and got out of the vehicle, ran across the parking lot, jumped over a fence,” Sgt. Dave Lund said.
Police chased the man, but he seemed to disappear until the driver of a city recycling truck picked up a load at a nearby business.
"Our driver was actually outside of the truck. He was rolling the cart in from a storage area and was putting one cart away and grabbing the second cart to dump the contents from that cart when he heard the screaming,” said Nate Loper with the Appleton Department of Public Works.
The man had been hiding in a recycling bin, according to police, and was unknowingly picked up by the trash collector and dumped into the back of the truck.
The driver was activating the blade that packs down the load when he heard shouting.
"It would have been a very bad situation had the driver not caught this in time and hit the stop button,” Loper said.
Police say the man made his way out of the truck and ran again, with officers giving chase until he collapsed because of a serious head injury.
"He was still conscious. He talked to them, provided some information, but it was clear to the officers who were there that the injury was pretty significant and that he needed to get medical care for that,” Lund said.
The man is expected to recover and so is a police officer slightly injured during the pursuit.
Police expect additional charges in the man’s case.
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