This is the City, West Bend, Wisconsin. For 28 years I wore a badge to protect and serve this City. It was July 2005, I was working financial crimes in the detective bureau.
The story you are about to read is true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
The City had seen a series of armed robberies at different businesses, from gas stations to a recycling center to a car jacking of a pizza driver. We really didn’t have any leads on the cases so I was working one of my other forgery cases.
I had taken one of my partners who had just been promoted to detective, to go out to a local restaurant to pick up my suspect and bring him in for questioning. As we were just getting off the highway, a call came over the radio of a robbery in progress at the Full Service Bank on Main St. The dispatcher stated that she was receiving a 911 call from a cell phone from within the bank.
There happened to be a Full Service Bank right on the corner where we had exited the highway from. It didn’t make sense as this was the only Full Service Bank in town but it wasn’t on Main St. At this point we didn’t know if the call was coming from a Full Service Bank in a neighboring city. My partner asked what we were going to do? As I made a U-turn, I said, “We are setting up on the bank.”
Driving past the bank to set up, we did not see anything unusual. I parked so I could see the front (north) and east side of the bank as well as both driveways. My partner had gotten out of the car to grab the binoculars from the trunk of our unmarked squad car. I was trying to get on the radio but there was so much radio traffic from squads responding and trying to sort out the possible location, that I could not radio in our position.
While trying to radio it in, I noticed a car in by the ATM that seemed to be parked in a weird way. I was trying to point it out to my partner, so he could get the license plate, when suddenly my partner said, “Joe, bike.”
As I looked to the northeast corner of the building, I saw a male subject wearing a ski mask, riding a bike out of the tall pine trees. As the subject rode east, my partner and I started running towards him yelling, “POLICE STOP.” AS the subject rode down the little hill and attempted to cross the street, when he hit the second curb, he went flying over the handle bars and money when flying everywhere and he dropped a gun that was in his hand as he crashed to the ground.
As my partner and I ran over to him, guns drawn, the subject was down on one knee and you could see he was trying to shake it off, as we ordered for him to “Get on the Ground and Show me your Hands”. As the subject continued to ignore our commands, I holster my firearm and jumped on his back taking him to the ground. While lying on his back, I had his left arm pinned out above his head but he had his right arm under his body by his chest and I could not get it free. Commands of “STOP RESISTING” were ignored as the subject kept his right arm under his body and was trying to fight to get free. While trying to take the subject into custody, I remember looking up and seeing a photographer from the newspaper taking pictures as the struggle ensued.
My partner had radioed in for help and as the marked squads arrived, they were driving past us on the road as we were in a low area by some trees and they initially could not see us. Once the patrol units arrived, two uniform officers came down and were able to handcuff the subject. As they removed the mask and the subject’s outer shirt, it became apparent why the subject was keeping his right arm under his chest. The subject has a second hand gun in a shoulder holster that he was trying to get too! The subject had an ID identifying him as Sam Strawlyer.