CROSBY, Minn.-Rescuers were called to save a man trapped in a trench at a construction site late Thursday night in Crosby, Minn., after receiving a 911 call that he was buried in a box.
The emergency call came in about 11:09 p.m. but the man was unsure of his location. Crosby Police Chief Kim Coughlin said law enforcement pinged the cellphone to try to determine where he was. It helped narrow down the area but didn't precisely pinpoint where he was trapped. Coughlin said officers then searched the area and an officer heard the man, Joseph Erickson, age 21 of Crosby, in a construction site in a residential neighborhood.
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Coughlin said the man fell 15 feet into a construction trench where green grass comes to an abrupt and steep end on Cross Avenue. Below is a deep and dark trench cut into the sandy soil. And that's where Erickson apparently fell into an excavation site late Thursday night, sparking calls for firefighters and police officers and for a high-angle rescue. The technical rope rescue technique is used to retrieve injured or incapacitated people on terrain where the slopes are 60 degrees or greater.
At the scene, the open trench was surrounded by temporary orange flexible fencing and marked on either side by a reflective sign warning people of the danger. An elongated metal trench box with an open top rested at the bottom of the dig designed to allow workers to be active there and protected from a potential cave-in. Witnesses reported the man fell between the exterior metal side of the box and the earthen wall amid collapsing soil.
Erickson cut his chin in the fall. His legs were stuck under the metal trench box as dirt and the rain-saturated embankment started to collapse around him. From police reports, Erickson was buried up to his armpits in the loose dirt.
"I'm sure it was a scary situation," Coughlin said, adding it could have been a life or death moment if the soil collapse had been more extensive. She noted alcohol was a factor and part of the embankment probably was giving way in response to the activity of the rescue operation given all the recent rains.
Coughlin said rescuers, police officers and firefighters from the Crosby Fire Department-who were assisted by neighbors who handed over shovels-got a strap around Erickson and lifted him out of the trench. He was placed on a backboard and taken to nearby Cuyuna Regional Medical Center. Coughlin said Erickson was not seriously injured. She noted the site was well-marked and Erickson had to scale the fence to get to the open trench. Coughlin said the incident does point to the benefit of having a cellphone to reach help and be found.
At the scene, large equipment was posted on either side of Cross Avenue where the trench extends across the width of the street for an ongoing water and sewer project. About midnight, neighbors along the Crosby street were still gathered out in their yards or were peering from nearby homes even after firefighters, police officers and an ambulance left the scene.
Ron Martin has called Cross Avenue home for 14 years. It's normally a quiet street, residents said. Martin's home is a couple of blocks north of Crosby's Main Street and just yards away from the construction trench. For Martin, the first sign of trouble came from sounds in the construction area.
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"Our daughter-in-law heard noises and a voice," Martin said.
His daughter-in-law said it sounded as though someone may be messing with the equipment. Martin sent her to grab his son and he prepared to go outside to check. Right when Martin was going to take a look, police squad cars arrived on scene.
"And he was down in the hole," Martin said of the man who was rescued. "They had to work quickly because it was caving in."
