A man who was wedged between two downtown buildings is out of hospital.
But it remains a mystery how he managed to get himself trapped in a half-metre gap between the Executive Place office tower under construction and the former Park Hotel on Ross Street.
RCMP Cpl. Kathe DeHeer said police are still looking into the bizarre mishap that unfolded late Thursday afternoon.
“There certainly is an investigation that is ongoing in that incident. I don’t know exactly what led up to his becoming wedged.”
The 18-year-old man is from Central Alberta but not from Red Deer. Police have not released his name.
RCMP confirmed he was not a resident of the halfway house located on the second floor of the old hotel.
DeHeer said investigators are still trying to determine if there was an offence committed that could result in charges. “There are a few questions that need to be answered before charges can be laid.
“It’s not something that happens every day — thank goodness.”
Fire officials at the scene said the man told his rescuers he was jumping from building to building when he fell into the gap. The man supposedly slid down between the two walls before becoming stuck just above the ground. He claimed to have been stuck there for five hours.
Fire-medics had to cut a hole through the wall of the nearly complete office tower to free the man. He was taken out on a stretcher about an hour after construction workers heard his cries for help about 3:30 p.m. and alerted Red Deer Emergency Services.