NY Crews Rescue Naked Man Stuck Behind Theater Wall

Nov. 5, 2021

Syracuse firefighters responded Friday after a man hiding in a theater for days got stuck behind a wall, and crews found him naked after breaking through.

By Anne Hayes

Source syracuse.com

Firefighters used a sledgehammer to break through a wall after a man who was hiding in a theater for days became trapped behind it on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021.

SYRACUSE, NY – A man was rescued Friday morning from inside a wall in the Landmark Theatre after being stuck there for days.

Around 7:30 a.m., the Syracuse fire department responded to a report of a man stuck in a wall in the theater, Syracuse Fire Deputy Chief John Kane said.

An employee at the theatre heard the man yelling for help and called 911, Kane said.

The 39-year-old man got into the building at 362 S. Salina St. on Tuesday, police said.

He had been seen wandering around the theater earlier in the week, said Mike Intaglietta, executive director of the theatre. Employees who had seen the man lost track of him and thought he had left the building, he said.

“I don’t know if he was entering to keep warm or to use the bathroom. I don’t know,” Intaglietta said.

Instead of leaving, the man got into a crawl space in the building, Kane said. He was in the hiding spot for two days before he fell into a space in the wall of the men’s bathroom and became trapped, Kane said.

When the fire department arrived, they had to cut open the wall in order to rescue the man, Kane said. The man was naked when firefighters found him, he said.

He was transported to Upstate University Hospital for evaluation, police said. The man had no visible injuries but was probably suffering from dehydration, Kane said.

At this time, no criminal charges have been filed against the man, police said.