Would-Be Burglar Gets What He Deserves, Ends Up Stuck in Chimney Overnight
An attempted burglary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, went completely wrong for a 23-year-old man who ended up stuck overnight inside a chimney.
Eva Sigala has worked at Durango Auto Center in Tulsa for 13 years. She told KOKI-TV that in all her years as an employee, she has never witnessed a scenario quite like this.
A man was spotted on surveillance video cutting the wires connected to the air conditioning units before he decided to climb down the chimney just after midnight on April 22.
But the man never emerged and instead, spent the night wedged inside the chimney.
Sigala said that when her boss came to work that morning, he heard strange noises coming from the chimney.
(Race Riley) Tulsa, Oklahoma:
“Well he came in this morning and he heard a whining and crying noise and at first he thought it was a pigeon, because we get pigeons stuck in… https://t.co/RtB6U8FDMY
— KISR (@KISR93) April 24, 2019
“Well he came in this morning and he heard a whining and crying noise, and at first, he thought it was a pigeon, because we get pigeons stuck in there all the time,” Sigala said.
“And he listened closer and heard ‘help,’ that’s when he left, closed the door and called the cops.”
Firefighters arrived at around 9 a.m. to figure out how to get the suspected burglar out of the chimney opening, which was only about 16 inches wide.
By this time, the man had been stuck inside the chimney for around nine hours.
The rescue squad debated dismantling the chimney to free the man, but instead, were able to use a pulley system to lift jolly old St. Nicholas out of the chimney.
In a video interview with KOKI-TV, one of the rescue team members said the man did not appear to be injured, but was exhausted from the ordeal and was taken to a hospital, handcuffed to a gurney.
The suspect was later identified as Keenan Holmes, 23, who has previous convictions in Tulsa County, according to KOTV.
Police charged Holmes with “second-degree burglary after a felony conviction, malicious injury to property, possession of burglary tools after a felony conviction and possession of drug paraphernalia,” KOTV reported.
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