This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A Texas man who became trapped inside an ATM slipped notes to customers via the receipt slot pleading for them to help him escape, police said on Thursday.

The Corpus Christi police lieutenant Chris Hooper said the contractor became stuck on Wednesday when he was changing the lock to a Bank of America room that leads to the ATM.

“Apparently he left his cellphone and the swipe card he needed to get out of the room outside in his truck,” Hooper said.



The contractor then passed notes through the ATM receipt slot to customers retrieving cash, imploring them to call his boss. One read: “Please help. I’m stuck in here.”

CNN (@CNN) A repairman got stuck behind an ATM and ended up slipping "help me" notes through the receipt slot https://t.co/z13eGuB8xn pic.twitter.com/Xq1ebs3xaY

Some customers appeared to dismiss the notes as a prank, Hooper said. But one called police, who detected a faint voice coming from inside the ATM. An officer kicked in the door to the room and freed the man, whose name was not released.

“Everyone is OK but you will never see this in your life, that somebody was stuck in the ATM,” Richard Olden, a police senior officer, told KRIS-TV. “It was just crazy.”