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SEATTLE - A suspected burglar got stuck between an air duct and the wall of a Pioneer Square building while trying to escape from angry residents, police and witnesses said.



The man had to be rescued by firefighters - as residents captured the whole episode on cell phone cameras.



Neighbors tell KOMO News they've had problems with people breaking into the building before. But this time they didn't have to try hard to catch the suspect - he caught himself.



Video recorded at the scene, in the 100 block of Alaskan Way South, recorded the suspect's voice coming from behind a wall of the building as he hollered for help.



"I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" he says.



A neighbor replies, "Just hang on. You shouldn't have ran, buddy."



Witnesses say the man was first spotted in the laundry room trying to break open the machines to get the change.



When he was confronted, he locked himself inside - and found the only other way out through a vent hole in the wall. That led him to a small crawl space where he kicked his way through a second wall into another room.



Still cornered, he got jammed between an air duct and the wall - where just about everybody could hear him.



"Yeah, we could hear him all over the place," said witness Omar Nasserziayee. "It was a very bizarre way to spend a Tuesday night."



Police and fire rescue teams responded after residents called 911.



Firefighters had to use extraction gear to free the man - and neighbors snapped photos as he was taken away on a stretcher to be checked out.

