A Winnipeg family is speaking out after they say two men threw their teenage son, who lives with an intellectual disability, in a North End dumpster.

It happened while Jean-Micheal Morrissette, 13, walked home from school last Thursday.

His parents, John Morrissette and Marie Kinnear, said their son was accosted by two men and thrown into a trash bin near Flora Avenue and Parr Street on Jan. 7.

Jean-Micheal was trapped inside the bin for hours on a day when temperatures hovered around -15 C.

"I wanted to go out and find the guys that did this to my son and hurt them in the same way," said Morrissette. "I hope they find who did this to my son."

Nicole Langlois works in the area and found Jean-Micheal. She told CTV News she could hear faint cries for help when she walking past the dumpster earlier that evening, but couldn't pinpoint where they were coming from.

It was only when she came back a few hours later, Langlois checked the bin on a gut feeling. She found the 13-year-old sleeping, and covered with garbage.

"All he kept saying was, ‘help they pushed me in here.’ And I kept trying to talk to him and ask him who and he didn’t talk back to me," said Langlois, adding the boy ran away soon after she let him out.

Jean-Micheal was not hurt in the incident. He is now taking a cab to and from school until his parents can organize more permanent transportation arrangements.

"We owe (Langlois) a lot because if it wasn't for her, it could've been a lot worse,” said Kinnear.

A report was filed with police on Jan. 13; authorities are now investigating.

Jean-Micheal's family hopes anyone with information or security video from that evening will turn it over to police.