Trashed

An Ohio man who ran from police and hid in a trash dumpster called for help after the dumpster was emptied into a BFI trash truck with him along for the ride.

Police say that just after 6 a.m. Wednesday officers were told of a possible theft in progress at the Alliance Walmart. Police say they then saw a man leave the store through the fire door pushing a shopping cart full of merchandise. The man spotted them and ran away, leaving the cart behind. Police chased him but didn’t find him.

About 50 minutes later police dispatchers got a call from an Akron man who is a friend of the suspect. The man said he had just received a call from the suspect, James Brienzo, who had been hiding in a dumpster near Walmart. That dumpster had just been picked up and emptied into a trash truck and Brienzo was trapped inside and needed help. Dispatchers alerted other patrol units to try and find the BFI trash truck.

Alliance dispatchers, as well as Stark County dispatchers, were able to contact the suspect briefly on his cell phone, then began utilizing GPS to track him down.

The BFI truck was stopped and officers found the suspect inside, but after several minutes were still unable to free him from the trash. They decided that the truck would have to be emptied to get him out. Brienzo was freed at the Alliance recycling center, then taken to Mercy Medical Center in Canton. He was then taken by LifeFlight to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.