Man rescued from Des Plaines building vent
Des Plaines fire personnel Monday rescued a man who spent almost 24 hours stuck head first in an exhaust vent through the roof of the Little Amsterdam restaurant, which closed in June.
Police would not speculate on why Jimm Rodriguez, 23, of the 2000 block of West Algonquin Road, was in the vent to begin with. Rodriguez was being treated Monday night for his injuries at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
Information on his condition wasn't available Monday night.
The landlord, Scott Hodlmair, was checking the property Monday morning when he was startled to see a man's head and arms sticking from the vent over the restaurant's kitchen stove, said Chuck Miller, owner of Alpine Camera Co., which is in the other half of the same building at 686 S. Lee St. in downtown Des Plaines. Rodriguez asked Hodlmair to contact police, Miller said.
Emergency personnel got the call about 10:40 a.m. and had to cut open the vent leading from the rooftop to extricate the man, according to a news release.
Police said the landlord checked the interior of the building after noticing that an exhaust vent on the top of the roof was lying on its side.
Miller said he'd noticed too that the vent was on its side when he arrived to open his shop, but had thought it might have blown over in the wind. Later, he heard some banging through the wall separating his building from the restaurant, but was busy with customers and assumed someone was working on the building.
No charges have been filed so far, but police are continuing to investigate.