An ATM dispensed cash and notes for help from a man trapped inside [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

But not in Florida.

An ATM dispensed cash — and notes for help from a man trapped inside

By Alex Horton July 13 at 12:35 PM

A police officer driving near the waterfront in Corpus Christi, Tex., Wednesday afternoon was waved down and given an unusual tip: an ATM was dispensing handwritten notes scribbled with an existential appeal — “please help.”

It had to be a joke, the responding officers believed. A Bank of America ATM spitting emergency notes with cash and receipts sounded like an absurdly constructed plot of a gotcha live television show. Then the machine starting talking.

“Sure enough, we can hear a little voice coming from the machine,” Corpus Christi police officer Richard Olden told the local Fox affiliate.

An officer kicked down the door to reveal the author of the notes. A man, hidden behind the machine, was locked in the service room that housed the ATM. He began scribbling notes to the outside world in an analog version of The Wizard of Oz bellowing from behind a curtain. ... The man was there to repair a door lock, which got the better of him, Corpus Christi police spokesman Lt. Chris Hooper told The Washington Post. The contractor, whose name and company were not released, had left his phone and a device needed to open the door from the inside.
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Alex Horton is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post and a former Army infantryman. Follow @AlexHortonTX