A suspect embarked on “Santa-like” antics when he climbed inside a chimney and got stuck while trying to flee from police.
The nod to Father Christmas unfolded Tuesday night when officers tried to execute a search warrant at a property in Fall River, Massachusetts, the City of Fall River Police Department said.
Bodycam footage, shared by police, captured the moment suspects Robert Langlais, 33, and Tanisha Ibay, 32, tried to escape via the building’s rooftop.
“Hey, he’s on the roof. Hey, get down here. Show your hands or I’m going to come up there and grab you,” one officer is heard shouting.
While Ibay leaped from the roof onto a car, Langlais hunkered down inside a chimney, police said.
His hiding place came to light when a passing dog walker told officers they heard someone screaming and spotted a man dive down the chimney.
“He went down the chimney!” they said.
The officers clambered onto the roof and looked inside the chimney to find Langlais stuck inside.
“Are you stuck?” one officer is heard asking.
The very officers the suspects were trying to flee from then set about freeing Langlais, dismantling the chimney brick by brick from inside the property.
Langlais was ultimately dislodged from the chimney, saying his leg hurt.
Police described Langlais’s “Santa-like” antics as having “invoked the essence of the seasonal icon.”
Langlais was taken to a local hospital as a precaution before he was arrested for possession of class A and B drugs as well as “a slew of charges from outstanding warrants.”
Ibay was also arrested for possession of class A and B drugs.