PANAMA CITY — A homeless couple and their puppy were pulled to safety Tuesday morning after the trash bin in which they were sleeping was emptied into a trash-compacting truck, according to officials.
Panama City Police responded to a parking lot near East First Court and Everitt Avenue at about 8 a.m. Monday to a call for help removing a woman from the back of a garbage truck. The truck driver had been able to get a man out of the truck, but the woman and a puppy still were buried under piles of trash, according to PCPD reports.
“The garbage container was full of trash, and I was unable to see or hear the female,” police reported. The Panama City Fire Department “was able to find the female, conscious and able to stand, after removing a large amount of trash.”
Crews dug through trash for about 20 more minutes before finding the couple’s puppy afraid but unharmed, officers said.
Officers identified the couple as Christopher and Jessica McCormick. Christopher McCormick told police the two are homeless and crawled in the large trash bin behind Catholic Charities, 2922 U.S. Business 98, the previous night when it began to rain. He said the couple went to sleep but later were startled awake as the garbage truck emptied the trash bin into its trash compactor.
The driver said he was on his way to the next stop at the paper mill when he heard someone yelling from the back of the truck, and he pulled over. Christopher McCormick said he was able to climb up a mattress and get the driver’s assistance out of the truck, police reported. Jessica McCormick was still trapped in the trash.
EMS and fire crews arrived to help, and the couple was taken to a local hospital to treat minor injuries. Christopher McCormick was limping and had a scratch on his head. Jessica McCormick was complaining of an aching back and was placed in a neck brace as police interviewed her, police said.
The puppy was to be taken into Animal Services until the couple’s release from the hospital.
Officials with Bay Medical Center said Tuesday afternoon the pair had been discharged. The couple could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.