7-year-old boy rescued after accidentally landing in trash truck

A young Florida boy narrowly escaped being crushed after hiding in a trash can during his play time landed him in a garbage truck.

Elias Quezada, 7, was playing outside his grandmother’s home in Hillsborough County when he decided to climb in her trash can, the family told NBC affiliate WFLA in Tampa. He was soon scooped up and dumped into a sanitation truck as it collected trash in the neighborhood.

In a matter of seconds, Elias thought it was going to be “the end” for him.

“I got picked up and thrown to where I was going to be a mashed potato,” he said.

But luckily for Elias, the driver was trained to observe every can in the truck’s surveillance camera as it gets dumped into the back. Waldo Fidele said he saw something drop and immediately turned off the truck’s blade. Fidele immediately called 911.

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“I come outside, I see him, he seemed happy,” Fidele said. “I said OK, you’re OK now.”

Carmen Salazar, Elias’ grandmother, recalled the boy going out for only a few minutes before she suddenly heard the sound of the truck and Fidele outside.

“I’m very thankful that he was looking at that camera at that time and he acted so fast,” Salazar said. “Because otherwise, he wouldn’t be here.”