The 7-year-old boy got so scared that he thought he would die, but the sanitation truck driver quickly saved his life.
Children get up to all kinds of mischief but sometimes, things can go too far. Even with adult supervision, it doesn't take more than a split second for something shocking from happening, when it comes to children. Many parents believe that children need to be under the watchful eye of an adult at all times when they are outside. However, sometimes, we just can't control what happens.
One young boy in Florida, who was playing outside his grandmother's home, ended up having a rough day that could have turned into a tragedy. Instead, he was saved by an alert sanitation worker.
7-year-old Elias Quezada was in Hillsborough County, playing outside, when he thought he would climb in his grandmom's trash can, the family told NBC affiliate WFLA in Tampa. Unfortunately, it was garbage collection day and the sanitation truck scooped him up and dumped him inside. The child thought his end was near.
"I was thinking, 'This might be the end for me,'" Elias Quezada told WFLA. "I almost thought I was gonna be a mashed potato," he added.
New best buddies. How the driver of a garbage truck saved a seven year old boys life seconds before he could have been crushed to death. Tonight. pic.twitter.com/m9hIDecMbj
— FOX 13's Ken Suarez (@kensuarez2) February 11, 2021
However, he was lucky as the driver named Waldo Fidele spotted him in the truck’s surveillance camera and rushed to turn the choppers off. "It was a bad day for me," Waldo told Fox13 in Tampa. "I was scared."
"Looking on camera I see something drop,” Waldo said to WFLA. Luckily, he noticed in the nick of time and was able to act before it was too late. Then, he called 911 for help. "I come outside. I see him, he seemed happy, happy! I said ok, you’re ok now," said the sanitation worker.
The boy's grandmother said it all happened so fast. "In a minute, he went out and the next thing I hear is the sound of the truck and a guy screaming," Carmen Salazar told WFLA.
Fortunately, the boy only suffered a small cut and gained a lifelong aversion to a certain household item. "I don’t like trash cans anymore," he told WFLA. However, he did make an exception. "Unless it’s like a tiny trash can that’s inside the house, then it might be fine," said the youngster. He seems to have his sense of humor intact, despite this difficult episode!
His grandmother initially thought that her grandson "was under the wheels" when she heard the scream. She thought "that he had been hit or something," she told FOX13.
Waldo is being hailed as a savior after his quick thinking saved the child. "He is a hero," said Joe Munoz, the driver’s manager at Waste Connections of Florida.
The 7-year-old said that he thanked his savior. His grandmom is also grateful that the sanitation worker did everything he could to save the boy. She said, "I’m very thankful that he was looking at that camera at that time and he acted so fast because otherwise, he wouldn’t be here."
Recently, two sanitation workers helped rescue an abducted 10-year-old girl. They had been on their usual route when they saw a parked car and became suspicious. They realized that it was the same vehicle mentioned in an AMBER alert, and called the police, and observed the car until the police arrived. The girl was able to go home and was reunited with her family because of them.
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Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by (L), Yujiro Tada (R) PeopleImages (Representational Images)
