StreetWorks - Under the Bridge

“It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life,” says 23 year old Daniel Roller, “this guy was sitting on his bed under a bridge smoking crack through a tracheotomy tube!”

A tracheotomy is a surgically created opening or hole in the neck leading directly to the trachea (the breathing tube). It is kept open with a clear plastic, hollow tube called a tracheotomy tube. Kelly was the name of the man in his late 40s who resided in this “bedroom under the bridge.” He moved in after his wife kicked him out of their apartment across the street. Daniel and I helped “Crack Head Kelly” carry his furniture and belongings down to his new home below the expressway in Kendall.

There was no question as to why his wife kicked him out. He would insert the glass pipe directly into the plastic tube sticking out of his throat and then inhale with mouth shut tight as he flicked the lighter.

“It’s like putting your lips around a woman’s butt hole and inhaling when she farts,” he said while covering the end of the clear plastic tube with his hand.

The rent-free waterfront property amidst the graffiti, garbage, ducks, and turtles was his personal sleeping space. He sat shirtless in the cool breeze smoking crack rock after crack rock, exhaling the thick white smoke slowly from his nostrils as his eyes stopped blinking and became large round saucers. Daniel and I sat in disbelief as Kelly stood up and began spray painting the walls of his new bedroom a neon green, and decorating the area with various objects. He placed his copy of Necronomicon on the bed and smoked another rock.

A few months after this incident, I went down there to take some photos and see if Kelly was around. The underground bedroom is still there, but there was no sign of Kelly. Maybe he moved back in with his wife? I sat down on the couch and listened to the soothing sound of cars bumping overhead. -- Jason Handelsman

CLICK HERE to watch a slideshow of room under the bridge.