You ever see a homeless man living out of a trash can and wonder how he isn’t picked up by a garbage truck? Admit it. You’ve wondered that.
Turns out. It happens. Specifically, it happened in San Diego in December. According to the San Diego Tribune, a garbage truck scooped up a homeless man (or woman) and nearly crushed him (or her) in the compactor. Here’s what went down:
There have been a rise in homeless people in San Diego. In an effort to clean up the city, they decided to clean the streets by removing tents and beds that were on the street. In doing so, they “accidentally” picked up a homeless man (or woman). The person tried yelling and waving his (or her) arms, but garbage people don’t care about that nonsense. Fortunately, the person was able to climb out of the truck, escaping unharmed.
The man (or woman) was not identified, in case you were wondering why I keep putting (or woman) in parenthesis. There is a method to my madness, unlike the San Diego cleanup crew. Their method is to cleanup, even if it means killing someone.
In order to protect the homeless, San Diego has created a new policy called the, “Don’t kill the homeless” policy. I’m sure there is a fancier name, but that pretty much hammers the point home. There will now be a supervisor and photographers present during these cleanups, to ensure that no other men (or women) are nearly compacted.
Really, they have to go to these lengths? I think the homeless should smarten up. If they hear a garbage truck coming, get out of the tent or off the bed and move elsewhere. Next thing you know, San Diego sanitary will have to check every garbage can before unloading it, just incase there is a stray cat.
[Image: Sam Litvin]