A man finds himself cap-brim deep in a hole after his yard yawned, swallowing him as he took out the garbage Thursday.
By SHANNON TAN
Published September 10, 2004
LARGO - Robert E. Martin was taking out the trash Thursday when the ground opened up and swallowed him.
The 85-year-old had rolled the large garbage can out to the curb, making sure it wasn't too close to the road. He turned around, and the gaping hole opened up beneath his feet.
"I tell you, it's a funny feeling," said the 140-pound former city commissioner. "All of a sudden you're going down."
Martin grabbed the handle of the garbage container and hung on. But he kept sinking. There was no time to holler for help.
The hole, which opened along Rosery Road west of Highland Avenue, was nearly 6 feet deep. Martin is 5 feet 7. His brown, fuzzy bedroom slippers were getting soaked from the running water beneath his feet.
Anyone above ground would have seen only the top of his flag baseball cap, which was barely visible. He wondered how he was going to get out.
Using his feet, he pushed the dirt into a mound and was able to climb out. About 20 minutes later, he was still sitting by the rim of the hole when a woman in an SUV drove by. She helped him up and then went to get his wife, who was in the shower.
"He had dirt all over him," said his wife, Geraldine, 84. "I took him in and I brushed him off and I got his athletic shirt off to wash it."
They called 911. This is not an emergency, Martin told the dispatcher, but I just fell into a hole.
Paramedics checked Martin's blood pressure, which was slightly high. Firefighters roped off the hole with yellow tape.
"He's a feisty little devil," said neighbor Marie Singer, 64. "He hung on for dear life."
Mrs. Martin made her husband change into a clean pair of shorts. She washed off the dirt clinging to his legs, and then they went grocery shopping.
Martin checked his blood pressure at Publix. It was back to normal.
When they got back, city workers had already filled the 2-foot-wide hole with dirt.
It wasn't a sinkhole, said public works director Chris Kubala. Part of a metal storm drain pipe had rotted away, sucking the dirt up from around it.
"The sod was still there," he said. "And no one could tell there was a hole under this until someone stepped on the sod."
Martin was unhurt, but his arms are still covered with splotchy purple bruises. His wife gave him an Aleve, and he lay down for a nap.
