Tampa sanitation worker given commendation after saving man trapped inside garbage truck

The honor of a lifetime came for a Tampa sanitation worker for saving a life. His quick-thinking averted disaster for a man who was trapped in a dumpster about to be crushed by a garbage truck. 

Efrain Caban was collecting the garbage in dumpsters near Busch Gardens on the morning of December 21. That morning, though, he saw hands on a monitor for a camera that is always pointed to the collection bin. 

"At that moment, he stopped the truck and said wait a minute, something isn't right here, there is a human being back there," said Bruce Allen, who is with the Department of Solid Waste.

After the man was lifted to safety, investigators determined he had a head injury, but would survive.

"The day before, it was raining," said Larry Washington, who is also with the Department of Solid Waste. "The individual was trying to escape the rain. It was 40 degrees that day, so it was a cold day in Tampa."

Caban is an employee with a spotless record of employment with the City of Tampa.

"I just want to thank the first responders that showed up at the area I was in, and my fellow employees," he told Tampa city councilors. "They showed up in the area I was in. That's it."

City councilors used the opportunity to give commendation to an employee who came to work not just to receive a paycheck, but to truly serve their city, and the people in it.

"When you look at your guideline, what your job description is, sometimes you take it for granted and whatever the stress of life is, you might have forgotten to look at that and that would have been catastrophic," said councilor Charlie Miranda.

Tampa