The Knoxville News Sentinel
Knoxville, Tenn. (AP) -- A Knoxville police officer shot a bank robbery suspect after he and an alleged accomplice led authorities on a car and foot chase.
Three civilians also helped police track down Roy Lee Hill Jr. on Thursday after his getaway car overturned and he fled on foot. Officer Christine Piscatelli eventually shot Hill in the torso after he made threatening moves toward her, police said.
“If I was that officer, I would have shot him, too,” said Greg Pyatt, one of the civilians who helped track down the fleeing suspect. “She did exactly what she had to.”
Authorities said Hill, 35, will be charged with armed robbery and evading arrest.
Hill is suspected of robbing the AmSouth Bank near the intersection of Interstate 640 and Western Avenue. He was clad in baggy clothes and wore a wig and surgical mask during the robbery, according to R. Joe Clark, special agent in charge of the FBI in Knoxville.
Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith said an AmSouth customer also was robbed.
Hill fled west in a Hyundai that was recently reported stolen out of Middle Tennessee, Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.
Georgianna Troupe Latham, 34, also was in the Hyundai, he said.
Piscatelli pursued the car traveling west on Oak Ridge Highway and attempted to pull it over. The Hyundai’s driver lost control of the vehicle, and it flipped three or four times before it landed upside down in a creek bed.
Hill fled from the wrecked car as Piscatelli continued the pursuit on foot. Piscatelli cornered Hill near fence when he charged toward her and she shot him, Keith said.
Hill, Latham and Piscatelli were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment. Hill was listed in critical condition, Latham was in stable condition and Piscatelli was released.