A routine pickup of portable toilets in Kansas City turned into an unusual rescue after workers discovered a man trapped inside the sewage tank of a locked porta-potty, where he said he had been trying to retrieve a dropped bottle of Mountain Dew.
The New York Post reported that the unidentified man may have spent about eight hours inside the raw waste tank before firefighters cut apart the unit and helped him escape on July 14, 2026.
Chip Counterman, a partner with Patriot Portable Restrooms, explained the strange series of events in a video statement posted on X. His company had supplied the portable restrooms for a World Cup event and sent a worker to collect them after the gathering ended.
What the driver expected to be an ordinary cleanup job quickly became something far more difficult to explain.
Worker Found One Porta-Potty Locked
Counterman said the company employee followed the normal procedure of knocking on each portable toilet before preparing the units for transport.
The worker wanted to make sure no one was still using the facilities before they were loaded and removed. Most of the toilets were empty, but one door remained locked.
The employee knocked and told the person inside that he had 10 minutes to leave. He then continued collecting the other units before returning to the locked porta-potty.
When the worker knocked again, the man inside reportedly said he was not coming out.
At first, that response may have sounded like someone refusing to cooperate or trying to delay the pickup. Nothing yet suggested that the person was no longer sitting in the normal part of the restroom.
Fortunately, a Kansas City police officer happened to ride past on a motorcycle. The driver flagged him down and asked for help dealing with the locked unit.
Officer Opened the Door and Saw Nobody
The officer approached the porta-potty and instructed the man to come outside.
According to Counterman, the person replied that he could not reach the door and was unable to get out.
That answer immediately made the situation stranger. The worker and officer opened or looked inside the unit, expecting to see someone injured, stuck near the doorway, or refusing to move.
Instead, the restroom appeared empty.
“They looked inside and didn’t see anybody,” Counterman said in the video shared by the New York Post. “The lid was closed. No one was in the restroom.”
The empty-looking enclosure briefly startled both men because they could still hear someone speaking from inside it.
Then a head suddenly appeared through the toilet opening.
“All of a sudden, a head popped out of the toilet and he said, ‘I’m in here,’” Counterman recalled.
It is hard to imagine a more shocking discovery during a routine portable restroom pickup. One moment, the officer and driver believed they were dealing with an uncooperative occupant; the next, they realized the man was completely submerged inside the holding section beneath the toilet.
Man Said He Was Retrieving a Mountain Dew
The Kansas City Fire Department was called after the man was found inside the tank.
Counterman said firefighters attempted to give him instructions for climbing out, but he either could not or would not exit through the opening.
First responders also asked why he had entered the sewage tank in the first place.
The man reportedly said he had dropped a bottle of Mountain Dew into the toilet the previous night and entered the tank while trying to recover it.
If that timeline was accurate, Counterman said, the man had been trapped in the unit for around eight hours.
The explanation leaves several obvious questions, including why anyone would attempt to recover a drink bottle after it had fallen into a portable toilet. Even before considering the danger, the bottle would no longer have had any practical value.
Still, strange decisions can become emergencies very quickly. Once the man lowered himself into the narrow tank, he apparently found that returning through the same opening was much harder than entering it.
Firefighters Had to Cut the Unit Open
The rescue could not be completed by simply pulling the man upward through the toilet seat.
Firefighters used cutting equipment to open the plastic structure and create enough space for him to escape, according to the Post’s account of Counterman’s statement.
After the unit was cut apart, the man was finally able to climb out.
Counterman did not describe any serious injuries, but the conditions inside the tank created clear health concerns. Portable toilet waste can contain bacteria, chemicals, and other material that should never come into contact with a person’s skin, eyes, or mouth.
There was also the risk of becoming unable to breathe, losing consciousness, or remaining undiscovered if the worker had not carefully checked the locked unit before towing it away.
That last point may be the most frightening part of the story. Had the company employee assumed the toilet was empty or ignored the locked door, the man could have remained trapped while the unit was lifted or transported.
Fire Crew Provided an Immediate Shower
Once the man was free, firefighters connected water to their truck and washed him down at the scene.
Counterman jokingly described it as a “free shower,” although the rinse was clearly necessary after the man had spent hours inside raw sewage.
He thanked both the Kansas City Police Department and Kansas City Fire Department for responding and helping resolve what he called a horrible situation.
“Watch out falling into toilets,” Counterman said at the end of his statement.
The lighthearted warning fit the unusual nature of the rescue, but the event could easily have ended much worse. Confined tanks are difficult to escape, and entering any sewage container can expose a person to serious illness or injury.
The firefighters also faced an unpleasant and challenging rescue scene. Cutting into the portable toilet required them to avoid harming the trapped man while working around contaminated material and a tight plastic structure.
Routine Check Prevented a Worse Outcome
Patriot Portable Restrooms’ decision to check every door before removing the units played a major role in finding the man.
The worker did not simply assume the locked restroom was unoccupied, and he returned after giving the person time to leave. When the response stopped making sense, he sought help rather than attempting to handle the situation alone.
The passing motorcycle officer also happened to arrive at exactly the right time. His involvement led to the door being examined and the man’s location inside the waste tank finally being discovered.
There is no indication in the New York Post report that police arrested the man or that charges were filed. The focus remained on getting him out safely and cleaning him after the rescue.
What began with a missing bottle of soda ended with police, firefighters, industrial cutting tools, and a destroyed portable toilet.
Counterman’s account may sound like a bizarre comedy story, but beneath the humor was a real confined-space emergency. The man was fortunate that the restroom crew followed procedure, noticed the locked door, and refused to leave until they understood why its occupant could not come out.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
