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05-08-2007, 07:04 PM
By Rochelle E.B. Gilken-Palm Beach Post
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Trapped in the back of a city garbage truck, Robert Baswell screamed each time a load of trash was crushed against his body.
The 44-year-old homeless man was compressed against hamburger leftovers and dead rats six times, then seven.
His legs broke; his ribs cracked.
He tried to cushion a blow with a dead opossum, but it splattered against him.
Baswell couldn't move, each time thinking, "One more and I'll die."
"I screamed one last breath," Baswell said. The trash collector, tossing in one more box, happened to look down and saw him. "I screamed, 'Please help me, sir, don't get back in the truck,''" said Baswell, tears welling in his eyes as he told his story Monday.
The trash collector called for help.
At 5 a.m. Monday, West Palm Beach firefighters spent almost half an hour pulling pieces of trash out by hand to free Baswell.
When he was lifted out on a stretcher, covered in maggots, he thanked his grandmother. He said Dena Baswell died in his Georgia hometown on Jan. 16 at age 94.
"She said 'I'm gonna be your guardian angel.' I know Granny (was) here tryin' to keep that machine from squeezin' me to death," Baswell said.
Baswell sought shelter Sunday night and went to sleep in a brush-filled trash bin on an empty lot in the 1900 block of North Dixie Highway.
"It was raining so bad I had to get out of the rain," he said.
He was jolted awake when the garbage truck moved the trash bin. He tried to get out.
"I'm tryin' to jump out and, boom, I fall into the garbage truck," Baswell said. "I started screaming, 'Help, please, anybody, help me.''"
Baswell, who has bushy hair, an unkempt beard and missing teeth, already has had a tough life.
He grew up in Georgia, did prison time for assaults and worked as a truck mechanic in Atlanta for 13 years. One pay day, he said, armed gunmen demanded his $1,300 and he said, "You ain't gonna get my money."
He still has a scar above his left eye from the gunshot wound. He said he was on life support for six months after that and hasn't been able to read or write or think straight since. And he says he has liver cancer.
He said he moved to Palm Beach County after his grandmother died. It was their favorite place.
He cleaned up a comfortable spot behind the Walgreens drug store on Federal Highway in Boynton Beach and lived there.
But police picked him up Saturday and issued a notice to appear in court for soliciting money from customers, said police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater.
So Baswell made his way to West Palm Beach. He said his last meal was two pieces of bread from a trash can on Okeechobee Boulevard. Then he settled down for the night in the trash bin.
The trash collector told Baswell he was amazed to discover he survived. West Palm Beach Fire Rescue spokesman Phil Kaplan said Baswell is lucky.
"I want to find this gentleman and have him buy my lottery tickets because he is one lucky dude," Kaplan said.
Baswell, too, said he is lucky.
"I'm so happy to be here, as bad as I'm hurt," he said.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Trapped in the back of a city garbage truck, Robert Baswell screamed each time a load of trash was crushed against his body.
The 44-year-old homeless man was compressed against hamburger leftovers and dead rats six times, then seven.
His legs broke; his ribs cracked.
He tried to cushion a blow with a dead opossum, but it splattered against him.
Baswell couldn't move, each time thinking, "One more and I'll die."
"I screamed one last breath," Baswell said. The trash collector, tossing in one more box, happened to look down and saw him. "I screamed, 'Please help me, sir, don't get back in the truck,''" said Baswell, tears welling in his eyes as he told his story Monday.
The trash collector called for help.
At 5 a.m. Monday, West Palm Beach firefighters spent almost half an hour pulling pieces of trash out by hand to free Baswell.
When he was lifted out on a stretcher, covered in maggots, he thanked his grandmother. He said Dena Baswell died in his Georgia hometown on Jan. 16 at age 94.
"She said 'I'm gonna be your guardian angel.' I know Granny (was) here tryin' to keep that machine from squeezin' me to death," Baswell said.
Baswell sought shelter Sunday night and went to sleep in a brush-filled trash bin on an empty lot in the 1900 block of North Dixie Highway.
"It was raining so bad I had to get out of the rain," he said.
He was jolted awake when the garbage truck moved the trash bin. He tried to get out.
"I'm tryin' to jump out and, boom, I fall into the garbage truck," Baswell said. "I started screaming, 'Help, please, anybody, help me.''"
Baswell, who has bushy hair, an unkempt beard and missing teeth, already has had a tough life.
He grew up in Georgia, did prison time for assaults and worked as a truck mechanic in Atlanta for 13 years. One pay day, he said, armed gunmen demanded his $1,300 and he said, "You ain't gonna get my money."
He still has a scar above his left eye from the gunshot wound. He said he was on life support for six months after that and hasn't been able to read or write or think straight since. And he says he has liver cancer.
He said he moved to Palm Beach County after his grandmother died. It was their favorite place.
He cleaned up a comfortable spot behind the Walgreens drug store on Federal Highway in Boynton Beach and lived there.
But police picked him up Saturday and issued a notice to appear in court for soliciting money from customers, said police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater.
So Baswell made his way to West Palm Beach. He said his last meal was two pieces of bread from a trash can on Okeechobee Boulevard. Then he settled down for the night in the trash bin.
The trash collector told Baswell he was amazed to discover he survived. West Palm Beach Fire Rescue spokesman Phil Kaplan said Baswell is lucky.
"I want to find this gentleman and have him buy my lottery tickets because he is one lucky dude," Kaplan said.
Baswell, too, said he is lucky.
"I'm so happy to be here, as bad as I'm hurt," he said.