Retired police officer puts suspect in sleeper hold to stop bank heist at Calif. grocery store
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. (AP) -- Cyndi Orel worked as a police officer for 25 years and never caught a bank robber. She was apparently saving that hobby for retirement. The retired Long Beach police officer foiled a bank robbery at a grocery store Saturday when she put a 220-pound bank robber in a chokehold until he passed out. Orel is about 5 feet 7 inches and 128 pounds
"I never caught a bank robber," Orel said Monday at press conference held by the Orange County sheriff's office. "This was pretty exciting just because of the nature. You don't have time to think about it. You just react."
Orel was at the Mission Viejo Albertsons store when a bank employee shouted that a man with a gun was trying to rob the branch. As another shopper scuffled with the robber, Orel put a sleeper hold on him, blocking blood to his brain and making him pass out twice. Later, they discovered the man did not have a gun.
Orel credited the man who helped subdue the robber, but sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said she was "being modest because if it wasn't for the control hold that she placed on him he would not have been rendered unconscious."
Orel said she learned the move at the police academy 28 years earlier, and only used it a few times during her years on patrol. She retired in 2006 but said she keeps active by running laps and lifting small weights.
Deputies arrested a 52-year-old man from Las Vegas, who they believe committed eight to 10 bank robberies, Amormino said.
FOLLOW - UP STORY
Ronald Felix just wants to tell his part of the story in which it was civilians who foiled a would-be robber's plans.
How he approached the robbery suspect at the Mission Viejo Albertson's Saturday. How he grabbed the suspect's arm thinking he had a gun. And how retired police woman Cynthia Orel assisted him in eventually taking the suspect down.
"I just felt like nobody wanted me to be part of it," said Felix, 48, when he saw Orel being praised for her bravery throughout several news outlets Monday.
Authorities identified the robbery suspect as Tony Baik Fennell, 52, of Las Vegas, who is now believed to have been involved in at least eight bank robberies from Norco to Utah, at least two of them in Orange County.
Orel told her story at a news conference Monday of how she assisted Felix in taking down Fennell inside the Albertsons Saturday after she had him in a carotid restraint.
At Monday's news conference, Orel mentioned a man named "Ron" several times, saying it was a team effort. Lt. Mike Gavin, police chief for Mission Viejo, said Tuesday both Orel and Felix were instrumental in taking the suspect down.
On Tuesday, Felix - a night club bouncer from Laguna Niguel - told his side.
It was around 12:30 p.m. when Felix was cashing his check at the Bank of America inside the Albertson's. Felix remembers seeing Fennell on aisle 15 after he finished cashing his check.
"He was staring at me as soon as I walked out the bank," he said.
Once Felix was at the cash register about to pay for his nutrition bars, he heard the bank manager yell, "He just robbed a bank, stop him!"
Felix said he jumped in front of the suspect and told him he was not going anywhere. That's when he saw the suspect reach into his pocket. Thinking the man had a gun, Felix grabbed his left arm. Then he grabbed his other arm and pushed him toward a bench.
"Hey, pal, you're not going anywhere," Felix said he told the suspect.
Felix said he pinned him and Orel came up and put a chokehold on him.
Felix said that at 195 pounds he had a good hold of the suspect. He said he's appreciates Orel's assistance, and that he was never afraid.
As a bouncer for the White House in Laguna Beach, Felix said he is used to dealing with confrontations and drunken people.
"I'm appreciative that she helped me out," he said. ".I just want to get my story out there."
Ron Felix, 48, is a part-time bouncer
in south Orange County who confronted
a robbery suspect.
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