The man became disoriented once he entered the city's water drainage system and couldn’t find his way back out. After being trapped for two days, a group of high school students heard the man screaming for help and called 911.
Officers arrived on the scene and cracked open a manhole to reveal the trapped man.
"We see a gentleman down in the bottom of it and it seemed that he had been down there a couple of days," Sergeant John Chelenza told KSWO. "That's the first time in going on 28 years that we have found somebody down in a storm drain."
The man couldn’t tell the police how or where he entered the city's water system, but he did tell them that he never got his $20 back.
"I was amazed. I was confused how he had gotten down there and amazed that he was still okay," said officer in training Alicia Redding. "He did not remember what day it was. He wasn't sure how long he had been down there. He was pretty dehydrated and not really sure the time or the date."
Considering what could have happened, the man should consider himself fortunate despite the lost cash.
"The kids were observant and astute. They did right by calling 911, and who knows they may have saved a man's life," Chelenza said.
[KSWO]
