By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Police in the U.S. state of California are searching for a man who robbed a bank in an electric wheelchair, local media said.
The suspect, in his late 60s with gray hair and a beard, entered the Wachovia Bank in Palo Alto and pointed a black handgun at a teller, demanding money.
“It sounds unusual because it’s certainly not the fastest getaway in town,” the insidebayarea.com portal quoted Dan Ryan of the Palo Alto Police Department as saying.
Eyewitnesses said his legs were bandaged, and one leg was in a cast. Officers did not disclose how much money the suspect took with him, but said the wheelchair may have been just a prop.
Shortly afterwards the man escaped in a white Ford van with red lettering, which may have belonged to the emergency services, the insidebayarea.com website said.
“We’re not sure the person who was driving the van was aware of what this guy was doing,” Ryan said.
Police said 10 minutes before the heist the ‘wheelchair robber’ had visited a nearby store and bought a bag.