Police say man in wheelchair robbed bank

[Jill]

Thought I'd put up some serious disability rights issues in this group and then this popped up on the alerts instead!

Police say man in wheelchair robbed bank

April 5, 2008

http://onews.890m.com/2008/04/05/wheelchair-man-robbed-bank/

Palo Alto, Calif. - Palo Alto police are looking for a bank robber who favors a decidedly slow-speed getaway vehicle — an electric wheelchair. Police said a man in his 60s with gray hair and a beard held up the Wachovia Bank branch at the Stanford Shopping Center late this afternoon with a black handgun.

After the stickup, he left in his wheelchair and was last seen motoring down a nearby street toward El Camino Real, a major thoroughfare.

Witnesses say the man’s legs were wrapped in bandages and his right leg was sticking straight out while he zoomed away.

Police are looking for a white Ford van that the suspect may have been hoisted into after the robbery.

Investigators don’t know whether the wheelchair was just a prop or whether the suspect was truly disabled.