Man in beer cooler had ‘everything he needed’
Ten minutes to midnight on Tuesday, Jeremy J. Van Ert stepped into a walk-in beer cooler at a Kwik Trip convenience store in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
When the doors locked behind him at midnight, he decided that rather than shout for help, he would just camp out, police say.
Marshfield Police Chief Rick Gramza said that his department has dealt with people who intentionally hide and get locked inside places with the purpose of committing a crime but that this case was particularly unique.
“We never had somebody accidentally locked in a place and not make any attempt to be rescued or get out because they’re satisfied with the circumstances,” he said.
“He just decided to run it out for the night. It had everything that he needed.”
Six hours, one 18-ounce Icehouse beer and three cans of Four Loko later, Van Ert was spotted by a Kwik Trip customer who told an employee that a man was trapped inside.
When the doors unlocked shortly before 6 a.m., Van Ert, 38, “made a beeline from the beer cooler to the door without any attempt to pay for what he had consumed or broken,” Gramza said. Overnight, Van Ert had knocked over and broken three 30-packs of Busch beer, police records show.
A Kwik Trip corporate spokesman declined to comment on the case, citing a police investigation. It was unclear whether there were signs near the cooler that warned of the doors locking at midnigh. The cooler was reported to have temperatures around 32 degrees Fahrenheit.