Young Florida boy escapes trash truck blade thanks to driver

TAMPA, Fla. – A young Florida boy was nearly crushed when the garbage can he was hiding in was emptied into a garbage truck, authorities said.

Elias Quezada, 7, had climbed into his grandmother’s garbage can while he was playing outside, last Tuesday.

Thankfully, garbage truck driver Waldo Fidele was monitoring the trash being emptied into the truck and noticed something unusual being dropped in. He turned off the blade and called 911.

“I come outside, I see him, he seemed happy,” Fidele said. “I said OK, you’re OK now.”

It’s an experience the boy won’t soon forget.

“I got picked up and thrown to where I was going to be a mashed potato,” the boy told WFLA in Tampa.

The boy’s grandmother, Carmen Salazar, said she was thankful Fidele was monitoring the trash collection and reacted so quickly.