Community Corner

Newtown Resident Falls in Dumpster, Suffers Injuries

For James Smarrella, down in the dumps takes on new meaning

 

 

James Smarrella, 65, used to have an old pick-up truck that he used for his construction business.  After work, he would drive down to the dump, pull up to platform above the dumpster, drop the tail gate, which, according to his old friend, John O’Hara, Smarrella would stop with his belly, and unload the truck.  

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Then Smarrella got a newer truck.  Business went on as usual until May 17.  This time, when he pulled up to the platform and dropped the tail gate, the heavier tail gate hit him squarely in the chest, causing Smarrella to fall about 15 feet down into the dumpster.

He blacked out for a moment, but looking up, a woman known only as Pat to O’Hara, was standing over him asking if he needed help.  Denying it at first, he soon realized he was not quite ready to stand up.  

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On Tuesday, Smarrella sat in the police station waiting for a copy of the police report. Holding his cowboy hat in his hands, he said, “The last thing I remember was opening the tail gate, and the next thing was being in the emergency room.”

In the police report, Milton Adams, Newtown Highway Department, said he was on a day off and bringing garbage up to the landfill.  He saw Smarrella fall, and he saw O’Hara running towards the dumpster.

Dave Ramalho drove a pay loader over to the dumpster, which had to be lifted and turned on its side to be opened to get Smarrella out.

Adams stood above the dumpster to make sure Smarrella wasn’t knocked around as the dumpster was moved, according to the report.  

After he was removed, the Botsford Fire Department treated Smarrella, and he was taking to Danbury Hospital by the Newtown Volunteer EMS.

His wife, Cathy Smarrella, had been trying to reach him all day, and raced to the hospital after being called by the paramedics. She reported that when she got there, "He was pretty banged up, he had electrodes coming out of his head, and his elbow down to his wrist was burned to the flesh."

The fall resulted in a concussion, bruises and a scrape so bad it was treated as a third degree burn.  However, except for the dizziness that reoccurs throughout the day, Smarrella admits it could have been worse.

“They gave me a special salve for the burn, and I had to see a concussion specialist for x-rays and a CAT Scan,” he said. 

O’Hara, who has lived in Newtown since 1948, swears that in the 39 years working at the Transfer Station, this has never happened before.  “He was lucky,” O’Hara said, admitting it could have been worse.  “There was a few feet of plywood down there, so he bounced a little.”

O’Hara believes that Smarrella was only down in the dumpster for about five minutes before the woman known as Pat found him. 

Police Officers Sgt. Santucci, Ofc Borges and Ofc. Hull reported that poles and safety chains were not in place, and that they saw blood in and on the side of the dumpster. 

O’Hara said that there used to be a chain between the edge and the dumpster, but it was taken down because it kept catching on the back hitches of trucks.  Now, there are saw horses that show how far to stay from the edge.

According to O'Hara, he put in a work order close to a year ago to have new poles and chains installed.  “We are working on a new system,” O’Hara said.


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