Man crushed to death by garbage truck in Rosemont after falling asleep in garbage bin

A Chicago man was crushed to death in a garbage truck behind a restaurant in Rosemont over the weekend in what authorities called a tragic accident.

Diego Mata, 31, was reported missing to Rosemont police by his family early Sunday morning. Rosemont police Sgt. Joe Balogh said Mata had last been seen leaving a family party at a restaurant in the Parkway Bank Park Entertainment District around 2 a.m. Saturday.

A few hours after he was reported missing, police reviewing security camera footage saw Mata walking by himself behind Hofbräuhaus Chicago, Balogh said.

“He was intoxicated and walking around and he ended up going into one of the garbage dumpsters back there shortly after 4 a.m.,” Balogh said, who added that police think he might have been trying to walk to the hotel where his family was staying.

At 5:26 a.m., the recording shows, a man driving a garbage truck used its system to pick up the bin and dump its contents into the truck. Mata and everything else in the dumpster were crushed.

“The system is such that the driver didn't even have to get out of the truck,” Balogh said.

As soon as police discovered what happened to Mata, more than 24 hours since he had been crushed, officers called Waste Management and began the process of recovering his body, Balogh said.

Balogh said the company determined that the garbage truck containing Mata's body had likely been emptied at a facility in Wheeling where trash is repacked onto large semitrucks and hauled away.

Balogh said Waste Management ordered the semitrucks that had recently left the facility to return so they could be inspected.

Mata's body was found Sunday among garbage that had been in a semitruck going to the dump, Balogh said.

“It's really a tragic accident,” Balogh said.

Balogh said they were able to contact Mata's family Monday to tell them what had happened.

The Cook County medical examiner's office has ruled Mata's death an accidental crushing.