A burglar attempted to get away from officers by crawling through the duct work of a Glendale home.
Court records show that an alleged burglar crawled through the air conditioning duct work of a home to escape police responding to a home alarm.
On November 6, Police responded to an alarm call at a home near 55th and Northern Avenues. Police witnessed the suspect, later identified as 28-year-old Ernesto Samaniego-Soto, in the home when they arrived. Soto refused police commands to exit the home.
Police got a key to the house and entered the home when they reportedly heard a noise in the ceiling over the garage.
They soon realized that Soto had crawled into the air conditioning ductwork and was trying to escape out of the garage. An officer used a ladder and spotted Soto in the crawl space. He reported that Soto lunged at him, causing him to fall off the ladder.
Police say they replaced the ladder and Soto came down but tried to escape. He did manage to get away from the human officers, but the K-9 officer knocked Soto to the ground. Soto then allegedly began kicking the dog and fought with five other officers before he was tased and taken into custody. One officer suffered a separated shoulder in the incident.
Police say they found evidence of forced entry into the home and significant damage to the ductwork and ceiling in the master bedroom where Soto fell through.
Soto reportedly told police that he has only been in the U.S. for three days and was trying to take valuables from the home to raise money to get to California.
Soto has been charged with burglary.
