Key Bank on 1478 Old Manchester Road was robbed in broad daylight Tuesday afternoon at about 1:50 p.m.
Two masked bandits entered the bank brandishing handguns and Chelsea Police Chief Ed Toth credits eagle-eyed residents who witnessed the two men running from the bank dropping money as they went for helping to apprehend them.
Toth said, “Alert Chelsea residents observed the pair walking from their cars to the bank in hooded sweatshirts pulled tight to their faces.”
The witnesses then observed the same two men fleeing the bank. The bandits jumped into separate vehicles and witnesses followed them — heading south on M-52, then east on I-94 and phoned police with their location.
“An area broadcast was given” Toth said, and a Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Deputy spotted the vehicles on I-94, and called in the license plate number of the first car and called for assistance.
Ann Arbor Police took over following that car, he said, and a sheriff’s deputy went after the lead getaway car.
Ann Arbor Police and a sheriff’s deputy arrested a 44-year-old Detroit man without incident in one car.
The other car exited the highway at Ann Arbor-Saline Road. The driver eventually stopped the car and fled on foot into a home in Pittsfield Township, Toth said.
Law enforcement from Pittsfield, the Michigan State Police (MSP), Ann Arbor, the sheriff’s office and Metro SWAT officers eventually arrested a 44-year-old Ferndale man.
“The Chelsea Police Department wishes to thank its concerned citizens for their outstanding contribution to the apprehension of these bank robbers,” Toth said in the press release.
He also gave a shout out to the FBI, the Sheriff’s Office, Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Police, Michigan State Police, the Department of Natural Resources, Huron Valley Ambulance, Eastern Michigan Police, U-M Police, the MSP Aviation Division, Metro SWAT and hostage negotiation units for their assistance in apprehending both these bank robbers.
