Man secretly living in restaurant ceiling freed after falling and getting trapped in wall

A man secretly living in the rafters above a Denver restaurant fell through the ceiling and got trapped in the wall space on Tuesday night, police said. At about 11pm, the Denver Police Department got a call reporting that a man had fallen through the ceiling at the Yard House.



When firefighters arrived, they saw a man walking through the space for the water pipes and HVAC system, according to James Ballinger with the Denver Police Department. The man disappeared from their view and somehow broke one of the water pipes - causing massive flooding at the Yard House and the Sheraton Hotel next door.



Police officers checked through the ceilings and couldn't find the man, but said it appeared that he had been staying up there for a while, Ballinger said. There were multiple bottle caps from alcoholic beverages in the area. Then officers heard a strange sound. "There was moaning coming from one of the walls to the right of the front doors," Ballinger said.


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When crews removed one of the booth's seats, they could see the man's feet behind the wall. Fire crews used a chainsaw to cut the man out of the wall. The man was only wearing jeans and was transported to Denver Health with unknown injuries. He apparently fell about 20 feet.