When a police officer responded to a call about a suspicious car, he did not think he would find a 38-year-old man stuck in an uncomfortable position at the private property. What was even more surprising to the officer was that the man willingly got himself inside the uncomfortable position but could not get himself out of there for two days. The suspicious car was reportedly parked near a winery in California. Upon arriving at the vineyard, the officer saw a hat placed on top of a piece of farming equipment.
The officer then decided to take a look inside the equipment, and that’s when he found the 38-year-old man trapped inside the shaft of the vineyard fan.
After being lodged inside the machinery for two days, the man was finally rescued by firefighters. And he gave a strange reason for why he was there in the first place.
“The occupant of the vehicle had, inexplicably, decided to climb into the shaft of the vineyard fan and became completely stuck inside the shaft,” said a statement put up on Facebook by the Sonoma Sheriff’s Office. “He had been stuck there for two days before we found him. The Fire Department responded and was able to extricate the man out of the fan shaft.”
“When interviewed, the man indicated he liked to take pictures of the engines of old farm equipment,” the statement went on to say.
However, the police found that the man had meth on him but no evidence of being at the site to click pictures.
“After a thorough investigation which revealed the farm equipment wasn’t antique and the man had far more methamphetamine than camera equipment, the motivation to climb into the fan shaft remains a total mystery,” the police statement went on to say.
Following the man’s “unintended multi-day stay in the fan shaft,” the man was given the medical attention he needed and will be facing charges in connection with the incident, the police revealed.
“We elected to not arrest him as he required medical treatment,” the police statement said. “The Sheriff’s Office will be recommending charges of trespassing and drug possession, as well as violations of both his probation case and the pending case for which he is currently out of custody on pre-trial release.”
If not for the complaint about the man’s vehicle, there’s no telling what could have happened to him. Currently, he is expected to make a full recovery, but there is still no definite explanation at the moment for why he jumped into the fan’s shaft.
“I’m really glad you guys found him. Would have been horrible if he died of dehydration there. I hope he gets the help he needs,” said Selena La Rue in the comment section of the Facebook post shared by Sonoma Sheriff’s Office.
“I only wish we could hear his side of the story! Glad he was found alive,” commented Nina May Millikin.
Brenda Calvo wrote, “Looks like he managed to punish himself….2 days of solitaire confinement…Wow!”