The frightened woman, thinking that someone had been killed and stuffed inside the machine, ran out of the small coin-operated laundry across from the Lake Carmel General Store and called police.

Kent Police Sgt. Ron Yeager responded to the 6:45 a.m. call and saw a man's leg sticking out of the dryer, just as the woman had reported.

Yeager approached the machine cautiously and called out to the man inside. He was relieved when the man responded.

It turns out that the man, a 41-year-old Lake Carmel resident, had been visiting a nearby pub Saturday night and stopped by the laundry on his walk home because he was cold, police said. He apparently climbed into the commercial-sized dryer and nodded off.

"It was just a guy who was sleeping in a dryer," Lt. Alex DiVernieri said yesterday.

Yeager awakened the man and allowed him to walk home. No charges were filed.

The laundry was open yesterday but was not staffed.