Man Gets Trapped In Wall Of 16th Street Mall Restaurant
DENVER (CBS4/AP) - Police say a man who made his way into the rafters above a Denver restaurant crashed through the ceiling, triggered a flood and got trapped in a wall.
Officers responded to a report of a man falling through the ceiling at the Yard House late Tuesday night. They saw a man, later identified as Steven Graves, 36, walking around the scaffolding and then disappear. A water pipe in the ceiling ruptured, flooding the restaurant and the adjoining lobby of the Sheraton Hotel.
About three hours later, officers heard moaning coming from near the restaurant's entrance. They pulled back some booth chairs and saw the man's feet sticking out of the wall. Firefighters used a chain saw to cut him out.
"The gentleman that was in the duct area fell, and then the fire department … had to cut him out," said Ron Hackett, Denver Police Technician.
Graves, who was taken to the hospital under a criminal hold, faces charges of burglary and criminal mischief.
Police are still trying to figure out how the man got inside the ceiling.
"Whether he was homeless, whether he was trying to make money, whether he was trying to take something out of the building; we look at all angles, and it's really early in the investigation at this point," Hackett said.
There was a similar incident in Longmont in November when a man become stuck for three days in between walls at a Marshall's store after falling 20 feet from the store's roof (STORY: Man Trapped For 3 Days Between Walls In Longmont Store)
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