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Chelsea Lawyer Almost Loses Arm After Getting Stuck In Trash Chute
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 28, 2012
Modified Oct 28, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 28, 2012
Modified Oct 28, 2012
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A lawyer almost lost her arm after she got stuck in the garbage chute of her Chelsea apartment building early Saturday morning. Attorney Margaret Baumer, 30, was found around 6 a.m. trapped in the hydraulic-powered trash compactor of her building at W. 21 Street Saturday morning—she had been stuck there for at least 45 minutes, and was found with her feet dangling in the air. “It was barely hanging on her body,” a fire official told the News of the woman’s arm.
The Post claims that Baumer was drunk, had lost her keys to her first floor apartment, and had concocted a wild plan to get in. The super told them she rang every bell until someone let her into the building; then this was her alleged plan:
Baumer figured that sliding down the trash chute would get her to the building’s basement. From there, sources said, she planned to go through the cellar and enter the building’s garden, where she would be able to open a window in her own apartment and climb inside.
All of which DOES sound like an idea that could only spring from the mind of the significantly intoxicated. The Post says that she then got her arm got caught in the compactor, triggering a motion detector. A piston crushed her arm, cutting almost all the way through, according to their sources. Baumer was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she underwent surgery.
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Chelsea
manhattan
margaret baumer
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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