BESSEMER, Ala. — An unexpected visitor to Bob Sykes Barbecue had only one order: A little help getting out of the roof vent, please, and keep the pants.
Firefighters had to use a rope to pull the man out of a 10-foot-tall, 1-foot-wide vent where he got stuck during an alleged break-in attempt at the restaurant early Tuesday.
The man was wedged in so tightly his pants came off as three firefighters pulled him out of the grimy, greasy exhaust shaft.
"He was ready to get out of there. He looked like the Swamp Thing," said Alonzo Scott, a cook who discovered the man in the vent when he arrived for work about 4:30 a.m.
Scott said he saw a pair of blue-and-white Reeboks dangling from above the hamburger grill. Scott said he asked the man if he was OK.
" 'I'm hot. I'm about to faint,' " Scott said the man replied from the vent. " 'Please, man, help me out of here.' "
Police charged Sampson Dearman, 25, with third-degree burglary. The 5-foot-7, 190-pound Dearman was jailed on $10,000 bond. He had apparently been in the vent about three hours when discovered.
Scott said Dearman applied for a job at the restaurant about six months ago and recently returned to inquire about the job.
"I told him to come back in two weeks," Scott said, "and I guess he came back in two weeks."