'He’s Gonna Call It In': Minneapolis Man Walks Outside His Apartment. Then He Spots A Whole Ford Focus In The Dumpster

A Twin Cities artist stepped outside his apartment last week, glanced at the roll-off dumpster on the curb, and saw there was a chopped-up car inside it. 

His one-minute TikTok of the resulting standoff between a Waste Management driver and a Ford Focus has hit 4.9 million views, drawn confirmation from current and former WM employees that nobody on shift is ever taking a load that contains a gas tank, and added another entry to the list of things people are apparently disposing of by tossing them into rented dumpsters.

The video was posted on June 10, 2026, by TiceJames (@tjsol22), a muralist whose channel is mostly fine-art clips. He posted this one with the caption, “Lol seeing some wild [expletive] already in the city. #stpaul #twincitys #mimmeapolis.”

Finding A Ford Focus In A WM Dumpster

In the video, TiceJames walks up to the dumpster with the camera unsteady. “I’ve never seen a [expletive] car in a dumpster before. What the [expletive]?” he says, panning across what he can see. “There’s an engine in there. The whole thing in there? It looks like a Ford Focus or something.”

A waste-collection driver in hi-vis stands a few feet from the bin and is, in TiceJames’s narration, “really double-checking if he can do this one.” 

Finally, TiceJames calls it: "After we determined what was in it, he’s gonna call it in because there’s like a gas tank and an engine and everything in it. Weird.”

The clip ends there. In replies under the video, TiceJames confirmed the driver did not, in fact, take the load.

Can You Throw A Car In A Dumpster?

The Focus was a hard no from the moment the driver walked up to it. Waste Management’s own FAQ on prohibited dumpster contents bars construction debris, automotive parts, tires, household hazardous waste, medical or electronic waste, and food scraps.

A chopped-up sedan with the engine still attached and a gas tank hits four of those categories at once. Multiple commenters who said they worked at WM confirmed the dispatch reality: the truck’s compactor is built for trash, not for sheet steel, and any load containing fuel or a wet-cell battery is a fire risk and gets refused at the bin.

In Minnesota, state statute makes it a petty misdemeanor to “unlawfully deposit garbage, rubbish, cigarette filters, debris from fireworks, offal, or the body of a dead animal, or other litter” on public or private property without the owner’s consent.

The statute does not name motor vehicles directly, but Minnesota’s auto-recycling law generally requires a seller to produce a title before any licensed scrap yard can take a car, which means that cutting up a vehicle and putting it in a dumpster is often the last resort for someone who doesn’t have one.

Commenter Justscott offered a parallel anecdote from a 2021 incident at his old apartment complex. “WM called the dispatcher and police showed up and the HOA assessed every owner $1k and a crane had to pull it out,” he wrote. “Police found the VIN and it wasn’t even someone at the apartment.”

Ford Focus In A Dumpster: How? Why?

The comments thread had two burning questions: how did the car get in a dumpster, and why? 

Several commenters who said they had worked in scrap and demolition pointed to a Sawzall or oxy-acetylene cut as the obvious method. The front and rear of the car are visible in TiceJames’ pan, and the body appears to have been sectioned. Lifting the halves in took, by consensus, either a forklift or a flatbed with a small crane.

Theories for the motive varied. Harold suggested the car had been used in a crime, and the owner wanted it to disappear before it could be linked to them. Several others, including TXWHIT3WOLF, speculated that the owner was behind on payments and trying to avoid a repossession on their credit.

Based on the WM workers’ replies, the likely sequence of events in these circumstances is that the driver calls in the load, the company refuses pickup until the dumpster is cleared, and then the property manager either bills the responsible tenant or pays out of common funds to have the halves craned out and properly scrapped.

If a VIN is found on either piece, local police will eventually be able to trace the car's registered owner and bring charges under state law.

TiceJames did not provide a follow-up video on this topic. The Focus, presumably, is still in the bin.

Motor1 reached out to TiceJames via the Instagram handle in his TikTok bio and to Waste Management via its corporate communications team for additional comment. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.