Kansas City, Mo. ? A man sleeping in a trash receptacle was injured Thursday after being dumped into a trash truck and then compacted.

The extent of the man’s injuries is not clear, said Joe Vitale, battalion chief with the Kansas City Fire Department.

The incident happened early Thursday at a shopping center on U.S. Highway 40, east of downtown Kansas City. As the waste-truck worker was driving away, he started the compactor. The driver heard screams coming from the front of the truck, where he had dumped trash from the receptacle, Vitale said.

Tom Coffman, spokesman with the waste company, Deffenbaugh Disposal Service, said the driver quickly stopped the compactor. The driver called 911 and firefighters arrived and rescued the unidentified man.