An officer stuck in traffic near a Montgomery County shopping center spotted a man darting to a cab at the same moment that a bank robbery call went out.
The drama played out just after 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the PNC Bank branch at Dekalb Pike (US Route 202) and Henderson Road in King of Prussia.
The officer sat in traffic near the bank when he heard to robbery-in-progress call, said Upper Merion Township Police. The officer then saw a man run from the bank and toward a taxi waiting around back.
The same traffic that slowed the officer also slowed the cab as it left the parking lot, said investigators. The alleged thief then got out of the cab and made a run for it. He didn’t make it very far as the officer captured the suspect in the backyard of a home along Ivy Lane -- just a few hundred feet away, said police.
Investigators found that the man had handed over a demand note to a bank teller that said he had a weapon – he never showed a weapon, however, said police.
Police found the money the man stole in the back of the cab, investigators said. The cabdirver didn't appaer to know when he was told to wait that his fare planned to rob the bank, said Chief Thomas Nolan.
Charges were pending Thursday night.
