Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Police are crediting two tire company workers with helping apprehend a suspected bank robber.
David Plourde, 32, and Richard Chayer, 34, rolled into action Tuesday when they spotted a man running from a Charter One bank branch with a shopping bag leaking red dye. A teller appeared at the bank door yelling that the bank had been robbed.
Plourde pulled a quick U-turn in the company truck. While he pulled the big yellow vehicle up against the driver’s side door of the suspect’s car to prevent his escape, Chayer jumped out and told the man to drop the money and stay put. Police arrived moments later to arrest the man.
Brian Cooley, 46, of Agawam, pleaded innocent later in the day to a charge of armed robbery. He was held on $50,000 cash bail.
“They did a great job,” Detective Lt. William Noonan said of the two tire company workers. He said no weapon was found on Cooley, but the man who robbed the bank had indicated he was armed when he demanded the money.
The workers said they didn’t stop to consider whether the suspect might have had a gun until afterward.
“Thirty minutes afterwards I started freaking,” said Chayer. It was his first day on the job at Pete’s Tire Barn.
“We were in the process of training Rich, but his is not in his job description,” said Plourde.