Top cops miss coffee break, nab suspect
Herón Márquez Estrada, Star Tribune
April 16, 2004
"Officers, we were just robbed!"
Anchor Bank teller Trevor Skaar pointed out a heavyset man in a plaid shirt who was walking away from the bank Thursday, a bag of money in his hand.
St. Paul police Cmdrs. John Vomastek and Christopher Hoskin, who were on coffee break at an outdoor patio, dropped their latte cups, grabbed their guns and ran.
It had been years since either commander had been on street patrol. But they both sprinted toward the suspect.
"Get on the ground, now!" they yelled, almost simultaneously and both out of breath. Their frisk turned up a 5-inch knife in the man's back pocket.
"He had the bag of money right in his hand," said Hoskin, 53, a 24-year veteran who last worked the street in the mid-1990s and now heads the evidence and information unit. "You can't ask for anything better than that."
Within minutes, sirens screamed as several St. Paul squad cars barrelled down the street. One pulled up next to the handcuffed suspect.
"It was nice to hear the cavalry coming over the hill," said Vomastek, 49, a 26-year veteran who hasn't been on street patrols since the 1980s.
"He definitely picked the wrong bank," said officer Mike Smith, who was among about a half-dozen officers at the scene near the Dunn Brothers coffee shop at 5th and Wabasha Sts.
When the two commanders walked inside Anchor Bank, employees thanked them profusely. No one had been hurt, but Skaar said the man had come in about 2 p.m. wielding a knife and threatening to kill everyone if he wasn't given money.
"It was fine work by the St. Paul police officers," said FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe, who said the man arrested is also suspected of robbing the same bank last Oct. 31.
"I swear he was wearing the same outfit at Halloween," said Skaar.
The suspect's outfit did lack one essential.
As Vomastek and Hoskin pulled the 54-year-old suspect to his feet in front of a number of bystanders, his pants fell to the ground.
"He needed a belt," said Hoskin.
News Assistant Susan Hilliard
contributed to this report.
Heron Marquez is at
[email protected]
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