Litonia Ga. (CBS46) – Workers at a shopping center in DeKalb County showed a bizarre scene Tuesday morning. A man was trapped in the vent of the oven and was screaming for help.
“I certainly didn’t expect it,” said Staff Sgt. Brittany Davis, a recruit for the US Army.
She told CBS46 that she and a co-worker heard screams while opening the recruiting office for the day. The office is located in a shopping center on Covington Highway near DeKalb Medical Parkway.
“We actually went back to see if maybe someone was on top of the roof,” Davis said.
Next door, an employee of Little Caesars Pizza was hearing the same screams coming from the oven vents. Davis went inside the restaurant and could hear the man’s voice more clearly.
“He was really saying he couldn’t breathe, that he was having a panic attack,” she said, “and of course, I was worried for him.”
He called 911, and police and firefighters descended on the shopping center.
“Kind of unconventional, something we don’t do every day,” said Captain Jason Daniels, spokesman for DeKalb County Fire and Rescue.
Firefighters and rescue workers swung into action. As they cut out part of the vent, they could see how narrow the spot where the man was trapped was.
“I’m glad that our people, especially our heavy rescue unit, have many different equipment and we were able to use a lot of them today to get them out safely,” he said.
When rescuers finally freed the man, police officers put him in handcuffs and escorted him to a waiting ambulance. He was complaining of dehydration and had friction burns in his arms from where he fell down the shaft, so paramedics took him to the hospital for a check-up.
Detectives did not immediately say what charges the man would face or speculate on his motive for entering the building.
“He didn’t make a statement about what exactly he was doing, but it’s pretty clear,” Daniels said. “We’ll let the PD sort those things out.”
“I didn’t ask,” said Davis, who enlisted in the Army. “I’m glad they didn’t turn on the oven because that would have been toast.”
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