Man searching for car keys gets locked in trunk, police say

MARATHON — A man who said he fell into his car’s trunk and got locked in after a walk on the beachwas rescuedWednesday by Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy who heard him knocking for help.

The oddball incident began about 9:30 p.m. whenMonroe County Sheriff’s Deputy SethHopp answered a call about a report of a suspicious vehicle parked nearSombrereo Beach.

There, Hoppsaid he found a1997 Lincoln Continental with all four doors open but no one in sight.

Drawing closer, Hopp said, “I then began to hear a knocking coming from the closed trunk.”

Come out, Hopp ordered after announcing himself as “Sheriff’s Office.”

I can’t, answered a voice that turned out to belong to be 32-year-old Rob Moore of Marathon.

“I opened

the

trunk

and

a...male emerged,” saidHopp.

Andthemalehadanunusual explanation for his predicament.

After going for a walk on the beach, Moore told the deputy, “he was looking for the keys to the vehicle and had accidently fallen in the trunk while searching for the keys. The trunk then closed on top of him.”

What happened toMoore’s keys remains unknown.

The deputy may have opened the trunk using anin-car release, saidMonroe County Sheriff’s spokeswoman BeckyHerrin.

During his interview with Hopp, Moore told the deputy he had in the car a pill bottle containing marijuana.

Moore was charged marijuana a first degree misdemeanor.

Moore’s mother arrived and drove home in the Lincoln, Hopp said.

“Certainly these are unusual circumstances,” said Herrin. “But we have no reason to believe it happened in anyway other than what he described.”

possession,

him