VanAllenBelt

I climbed into the dumpster looking for something and it was really dark. I had only the light from the streetlamps to guide me. As I was looking through the trash for the keys I'd lost, a large truck pulled up. I was inside a large dumpster and behind a fence so I was unable to see anything but the headlights through the slats. I couldn't tell it was a trash truck. I started hearing a noise and realized then it was a trash truck. I couldn't get out in time and somehow managed to smash my head on the side of the dumpster and was thrown inside the back of the trash truck with an open bed. I remember a lot of trash falling on top of me and I scrambled to get back on my feet. I knew I was in deep shit. I tried to find a way to climb out of the truck but the sides were up too high. I tried climbing on the cab but couldn't pull myself up. I was pounding on the roof of the cab but it was so loud the driver couldn't hear me. I heard the compactor moving closer and closer and just knew I was going to die in a matter of moments. Then the compactor started pushing my back and began crushing me into the truck bed. I was still standing at this point. The pain was absolutely the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. As it was crushing me, I began to black out. Just when I thought, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die" the compactor moved back toward the back of the truck. At that moment my adrenaline kicked in and I knew I had to get out or I was surely going to die. My body couldn't take a second crushing. I was unaware that I had a concussion, that I had broken several ribs, that my right leg had been crushed and that my collar bone was broken. I began to get in survival mode and somehow managed to reach up over my head about 3 feet looking up and pulled myself up over the top of the truck and fell 15 feet to the asphalt. By this time the driver saw me fall to the ground. He said, "You're bleeding, you're bleeding!" I tried to get up and walk and couldn't walk straight. Then I fell on the asphalt and passed out. I woke up in the hospital in the trauma unit.

I accidentally had thrown them in with the trash.

• How long is the recovery?
• Did the company cover all the medical cost?
• Did you develop any phobia ever since this incident?

Recovery is over. Accident took place in late 2005. I think I'm as well as I'm going to get. It took me a good six months to start feeling halfway normal again. The company did not cover any costs. It was all my fault. Plus if they had I'm assuming that that would have set them up for a lawsuit as if they were admitting fault. Amazingly no phobias but when I hear a trash truck I'm reminded of it sometimes. I don't have nightmares from it and don't know why.

I knew someone was going to bring up the Star Wars compactor incident.

Yes I do and thanks for the kind sentiments. It took me months to recover from the concussion and broken ribs. The collarbone healed faster. Was in bed for over a month and it was very painful to get up out of bed. Once I was able to get out of bed I used a wheelchair. I still have positional vertigo from the concussion. My back muscles were crushed and still have probs with the muscles getting too tight. My right leg has a permanent hematoma (small one) so standing for long periods can cause discomfort..