Police Reel in Scuba Diver Robber
This is old, but check this out:
AP-OLYMPIA, WA-April 27, 2004 - Maybe it was the weight belt. Or the air tank and regulator slung over his shoulder. Whatever his excuse, a wet suit-wearing bank robber couldn't make it to the water before being tackled by police.
Police subdued the man Thursday on the shore of Budd Inlet after a quarter-mile dash through the woods, a car chase and crash, Olympia police Sgt. Ray Holmes said."No truth to the rumor he was running in flippers," police spokesman Tor Bjornstad said, although he noted officers found a pair of fins inside the car after making the arrest.
The pursuit began at a Key Bank branch on the west side of Olympia. A man entered the bank, pushed a customer out of the way, pointed an assault rifle at a teller and demanded money.
The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash, which the man shoved into the backpack. Police said he was wearing a wet suit under an overcoat or a sweat suit.
Witnesses spotted him several blocks from the bank, running toward the woods behind a restaurant and getting into a car. The man led police on a two-mile pursuit, then plowed through a chain-link fence and crashed into a tree. After a few minutes of trying to get the car unstuck, he fled wearing a weight belt and toting an air tank and regulator over his shoulder, Bjornstad said.
He managed to get close enough to toss the backpack into the water before officers tackled him on the shore and used an electronic stun gun to halt him, Holmes said. The money was recovered.
