Monday, July 17, 2006
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Two women who saw a man drop a lot of money as he sprinted across a shopping center parking lot followed him in their car and confronted him, leading police to arrest the man on a bank robbery charge, authorities said.
An exploding dye pack, which marks stolen currency, covered the man in red as he fled on foot, raising suspicion in Annise Boyer.
"He just robbed the bank!" Boyer, 35, told Terri "Dolly" Easterling, a passenger in her black Pontiac Firebird on July 6, when a robbery was reported at Heartland Bank. "What should I do?"
"Go get him!" answered Easterling, a 74-year-old great-grandmother. "Don't let him get away!"
Authorities said last week that the pair will get reward money -- how much is undisclosed -- from Public Eyes, a consortium of banks that pays private citizens for information that leads to the arrests of robbery suspects.
Boyer said she followed the man as he ran through the parking lot. He occasionally turned to glare at her and even pointed a gun at her. At one point he attempted to steal a car.
"Don't do it," Boyer said she told him. "Don't do that."
Police soon arrived and followed the man down a busy street. Dana White, 53, of Columbus, was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery,