A Massachusetts woman was severely injured after she fell three stories and into an apartment complex’s trash compactor, mangling her leg.
Nelia Linatopi was trying to fetch a pair of keys for a neighbor, Zuriel Pujols, 19.
Police say Pujols had accidentally dropped his keys down the trash chute at the multistory building and offered the woman $20 to help him retrieve them. Investigators say he tied a sheet to the Linatopi and lowered her into the chute. The sheet ripped, sending her into the compactor, which apparently turned on.
Linatopi, 38, broke her leg during the incident. She was listed in fair condition.
“The person who lost the key could have just asked the office for a new key,” Jesesnia Morales, a resident of the Loring Towers apartment building, told WCVB.
“They make keys here,” she said.
No charges were filed.
Cpt. Conrad Prosniewski of the Salem Police Department told ABC News: “During their first attempt, he held her by her ankles and then lowered her head first down into the chute.”
“When that didn’t work, he got a sheet and tied it around her to lower her in. But then it ripped, and she fell down,” he explained.
He said an officer responded to the scene found Linatopi “laying on the ground next to the dumpster screaming in pain.”
“Her leg was badly twisted in the wrong direction,” Pronsiewski said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
