EVERETT — A bank robber was foiled Tuesday when he apparently failed to look both ways before crossing the street and ran full gallop into a pickup truck.
“I literally heard a big thud,” said Treacy Frye, a painter who was on his way to buy a hamburger on his lunch break.
Startled, Frye wondered if he’d hit something on McDougall Avenue behind the Wells Fargo Bank off Broadway in north Everett.
Frye, 44, looked in his rearview mirror and saw some men running down the street, yelling, “Stop him! Stop him!”
The Marysville man also saw money — mainly $50s and $20s — strewn along the pavement
That’s when he realized someone had run into his truck, a black 2005 Chevrolet Avalanche he bought in Oregon two weeks ago. He believes the robber wasn’t looking where he was running because he’d turned his head to look at the men who were chasing him.
Frye obliged the pursuers.
He drove his truck in front of the suspect and onto the sidewalk, blocking his path.
The other men tackled and piled on top of the bank robber while Frye called 911 to give police a location.
Frye noticed a knife in the man’s waistband and screamed to the others that he had a weapon.
Frye, who works for the Everett Housing Authority, said he was impressed with the group who held the man down until police officers arrived.
“He was just really fighting and struggling,” he said. “Everybody was just staying on top of him.”
Frye, an Army veteran who fought in Kuwait during the first Gulf War, was told at least one of the men who gave chase also was in the military.
“Those guys were really on it,” he added. “You could tell somebody had a little bit of training. I just want to make sure the other guys get their due.”
The robbery happened just after noon at the Wells Fargo in the 1800 block along Broadway, Everett police spokesman Aaron Snell said.
A man walked into the bank, demanded money and ran away, Snell said.
Several bystanders thought the man looked suspicious. They had good reason: He wore a shirt covering the lower part of his face and had colored paint around his checks and forehead. He also wore latex gloves.
Once inside the bank, the man demanded money from a teller but did not show a weapon, Snell said.
The teller complied and the man stashed it in a wicker basket before running outside.
That’s when the bystanders ran after him, Snell said.
The suspect — a Sultan man, 30 — was arrested and taken to a hospital to be checked out. He later was booked into jail for investigation of first-degree robbery.
As for Frye, he had an interesting story to share with his wife when he got off work.
He also could use his pickup truck as a show-and-tell visual.
“He damaged my truck,” Frye said. “He ran into my passenger mirror and slid down my truck and scratched it all up.”
Frye can live with the dings for now.
“I’m just glad it turned out well and no one got hurt,” he said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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