The robber.  Entry five

One evening I was home surfing the web when I heard a knock on the door.  I opened it to see Carlos, one of my hardest working and most dependable employees, standing there. 

     “We tried to call you but couldn’t get through”, he said

     “I am sorry; I was online” (we only had dial up), I answered

     “We just got robbed” he tells me “The police need the security video”

     “WHAT?!?!?” I screamed 

I grabbed my car keys and raced the mile and a half to meet the police at Jack in the Box.  I give them the video tape from the machine, and then attempted to piece together what had happened. 

Captain Green, from the Aberdeen Police Department, was off duty and was in the drive thru with his daughter, getting dinner.  Captain Green wasn’t watching the transactions on the inside of the restaurant, but his daughter was.  She saw something very odd, and alerted her dad.  Her father, ever the policeman, quickly figured out what was happening.

One of the more “colorful” people in the area decided to make a quick buck.  Walking along the sidewalk in the dark in his pajama bottoms and bare feet, he figured he could go into Jack in the Box, reach across the counter, and take whatever money he could when the register was opened.  He got $20.  Maria and Khase, two of the employees, immediately gave chase.  They chased the man down the street.

The man (whose name I do not recall) was subdued by the police and arrested.  Maria and Khase never were able to catch this thief; however the danger of their actions was not taken lightly.  They were warned never to chase a robber or attempt to be a hero.  The rest of the crew was reminded of the policies regarding robberies. 

The story was written up in the paper the following day.  The fact that the employees gave chase was not omitted.  Maria and Khase were also warned by the district Manager, Tony Downey, never to make such a dangerous decision again.

A couple weeks later, I received the court papers for this robber in the mail.  I cannot recall how much “time” the young man got for the robbery, but I do know that he was ordered never to go near Jack in the Box or Mike (the employee working the counter at the time) for the rest of his natural life.  That’s what $20 bought for this young man. 

Here is what The Daily World, our local AP newspaper, wrote up about the story:



By Levi Pulkkinen



Daily World writer



After four blocks, Capt. John Green had his man.



First in his car, the final block on foot, the Aberdeen Police officer chased down a 31-year-old Shelton man suspected of robbing the Jack In The Box drive-in last night. Minutes before, the pajama-clad man allegedly grabbed money out of a server’s hand at Bridges restaurant. Little money was taken at either restaurant.



For Capt. Green, the chase began in the Jack In The Box drive-thru. It was just after 6:30 and he’d just picked his daughter up from dance class. They were there for tacos and milkshakes.



My daughter’s the one who alerted me to him, he said today. I didn’t even notice him at first.



The girl saw a man dive over the restaurant’s counter and reach for money in the cash drawer. Green pulled his car out of the drive-thru just as a barefoot man in plaid pajamas burst from the restaurant, a pair of Jack In The Box employees on his heels.

Initially, Green only planned to shadow the man, calling 911 with his cell phone and sticking with the suspect until on-duty officers got there. But when a darkened, erratically driven pickup truck joined the pursuit of the robber, Green felt he had to take action.

Normally, you just want to be a good witness, the captain said. I had observed the subject and was fairly sure he was unarmed. I only got involved because of the threat to public safety. Someone was bound to get in a collision.

Green told the restaurant employees to flag down the pickup truck, then left his car and called to the robber.

He just looked at me and kept running, Green said. He still had the money clutched in his hand. (But) he was tired and he was barefoot. He’d already been running for three blocks and I was fresh.

The captain’s daughter waited in the car. We talk about this kind of thing. She did exactly what she was supposed to do.

Green nabbed the suspect near the corner of Wishkah and South I. On-duty police arrived shortly thereafter.

Upon entering Bridges, the robber pulled his shirt over his head, Capt. Dave Johnson said.

The man confronted the hostess near the register, demanding cash and implying that he had a weapon.

When the hostess told him she couldn’t open the restaurant’s safe, the man snatched $40 from a server headed for the register, Johnson said.

     The captain said police believe the man, now jailed in Aberdeen, fled a nearby drug and alcohol rehabilitation center moments before the robberies.

Johnson said the suspect’s criminal record is extensive. The man has been arrested 23 times for various offenses, including robbery, the captain said.