A woman has suffocated after falling halfway into a charity donation bin and getting stuck as tried to take out clothing.
She was discovered sticking out of the pink bin on West Federated Roadway in Plantation, Florida, about 6.45am on Friday.
An employee at the nearby Children’s Learning Center saw the woman as she arrived for work and called 911, but she was dead by the time police got to the scene.
Police said the homeless woman appeared to have been trying to get clothes and shoes out when she fell in and asphyxiated.
‘At this time, it looks like this incident is an accident, but our detective bureau is conducting a full investigation,’ Plantation Police said.
Police are still trying to identify the woman and notify her next of kin.
The medical examiner will determine the exact cause of death.
A handful of people die each year across the US and Canada after getting stuck in charity donation bins, more than 20 in 2007 to 2019 alone.
The woman was discovered sticking out of the pink bin on West Federated Roadway in Plantation, Florida, about 6.45am on Friday
The bins are designed to open a hatch using a handle at the front and are self-closing for security and ease of use.
People usually get stuck in them either when trying to take out clothes or retrieving property that accidentally went in with items they were donating.
Homeless people have occasionally deliberately gone inside for shelter, only to find they couldn’t get out.
One woman died in a horrific February 2017 incident in Pennsylvania when she wasn’t even trying to take the clothes inside.
Judith Permar, 52, was standing on a stool to reach the hatch as she donated clothes at 2am, and was trapped with her arm inside when the stool fell over.
She broke her arm and wrist and was stuck there for six hours with her feet dangling above the ground, eventually dying of hypothermia.
Death is usually from suffocation, either due to air inside running out or pressure on the chest if they are stuck halfway in, or starvation.
Those who get stuck upside-down can also die from a stroke, as blood collects in their head, or a heart attack.
Police said the homeless woman appeared to have been trying to get clothes and shoes out when she fell in and asphyxiated
An employee at the nearby Children’s Learning Center saw the woman as she arrived for work and called 911, but she was dead by the time police arrived
Homeless woman Kaily Land died in 2018 after falling in head first before the hatch closed behind her in Petaluma, California.
Her mother Darcey Kingsley sued container manufacturer RPI and operator Recycle for Change, claiming they should have known the dangers.
‘The clothing donation box was dangerous in that people who attempted to get clothes out of the box could become stuck in the box, and potentially asphyxiate,’ the lawsuit claimed.
‘Recycle for Change… were aware of this danger, or should have been aware of this danger, as there have been dozens of similar incidents across North America.’
A 42-year-old woman died the same way as Land. in nearby Alameda two years earlier.
University of British Columbia engineering professor Ray Taheri called the bins ‘death traps’ after two people died in as many weeks in 2019.
‘They get stuck there. They try to crawl in, but the further they go they get more stuck,’ he told CTV.
Taheri said the bins could be made safer by making the opening too small to fit through, or installing motion detectors or an emergency release handle inside.
