Fugitive slides down hotel laundry chute after 100 mph chase, California cops say

A wild Northern California police chase Sunday afternoon included a 100 mph pursuit down Interstate 5 to a hotel where the driver tried to escape by diving into a laundry chute.

The bizarre chain of events began when a Redding police officer tried to pull over a red SUV at 3:39 p.m., police reported on Facebook. He had recognized the driver, who had eight warrants for his arrest, from previous incidents, officers wrote.

The driver took off down Interstate 5 at speeds up to 100 mph, police wrote. A California Highway Patrol airplane followed the SUV to Red Bluff, about 31 miles south of Redding.

The driver bailed out of the SUV in a Home Depot parking lot and dashed into a nearby Holiday Inn hotel, police wrote. Officers began searching for him.

A Redding police dog named Otto found the man hiding in a locked closet, so the fugitive slid down a laundry chute to try to escape, according to Redding police.

But a California Department of Fish and Wildlife warden searching the first floor captured the man when he emerged from the laundry chute, police said.

Ruben Ybarra, 32, of Redding faces charges including felony evasion and resisting arrest along with warrants for charges including possessing stolen property and vehicle theft, police said.

Police said this is Ybarra’s 11th arrest in two years.