Police Say Man in Wheelchair Robbed Bank

[April 05, 2008]  PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) -- 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.

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Information from: San Jose Mercury News, http://www.sjmercury.com

[Associated Press]

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