A homeless man in a garbage container disappeared into a garbage truck Monday morning. Tragedy was narrowly averted: the man, who was still alive, suffered no injuries.
33-year-old Octave was fast asleep when he was suddenly awakened by a dump truck that came to empty the container. He would have slid into the back of the lorry.
He miraculously escaped with a small bandage on his leg.
“I was catapulted into the truck and I did […] pirouette and I fell a little on my neck, but in the waste, it mitigated the shock,” he explained to TVA Nouvelles.
“I told myself ‘I have to get out of there, I have to [quelque chose]”.”
Thus he left the danger zone where there were matches. He then tries to escape the truck, but the edge is too slippery. From his cabin, the driver finally saw movement on the surveillance camera in his dumpster, stopped and helped Octave out of his unfortunate position. He told her that this is not the first time this has happened. “He told me I was the sixth person in his life.”
Octave usually avoids sleeping this garbage. He is a regular at the Le Havre resource run by Karine Dahan. “He’s not completely blocked from our services, he has access at all times and he knows that. He makes in-outs regularly.
In the Point de rue setting, Philippe Malchelosse and his team are already trying to raise awareness of the dangers these garbage containers represent to the homeless population. “There are a lot of people who take risks. Someone lying in the parking lot next to a car can run away. It’s dangerous.”
Homelessness is on the rise in the inner city. Point de rue is currently seeking approval to open its snack shop from 11am to 1pm to take pressure off restaurant customers during lunch hours. “They have access to a bathroom, a toilet, a laundry room, some rest, a small dish.”
For Octave, his wrongdoing gives him the courage to try to take responsibility for himself. “The good Lord wants to give me a chance to understand something and I can do something better with my life.”
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