Inmate uses ventilation duct to escape California jail

(Reuters) - Police were on the lookout on Friday for an inmate who escaped a central California jail on Christmas Day by squeezing through a ventilation duct and jumping off the roof of the building, officials said. A statewide police bulletin was issued for Freddy Swanson, 23, who broke out of the Monterey County Jail in Salinas, California, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. He was arrested on Dec. 19 on narcotics and firearms charges. Officials at the jail had grown suspicious that Swanson might have escaped, and shortly before noon on Thursday after a facility-wide inmate count they confirmed he was missing, the statement said. They discovered that hours earlier Swanson had clambered up a ventilation duct at an angle of 45 degrees, punched out a small glass window and climbed onto the jail's roof before he jumped off the building and left the grounds, according to the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. Swanson's arrest at a motel in Seaside, California, occurred after he was involved in a hit-and-run accident and a high-speed chase, the Monterey Herald reported. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Will Dunham)