Store Clerk Gives Robber Own Money

Hicham Raache
Times Record

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:19 AM CDT

Fort Smith police investigated two store robberies Monday night and early Tuesday morning, including one in which a clerk gave the suspect his own money to buy insulin.

Police were first dispatched to E-Z Mart at 3411 Country Club Ave., which has been robbed frequently in the past, concerning a near-robbery that resulted in the clerk giving the suspect his own money to help the man purchase insulin, according to a police report.

The clerk told police that at around 10:45 p.m. he was outside the store when a black male he did not know approached him and told him he needed something from inside the store. He said the man appeared to be 20 to 30 years old, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, about 125 pounds and wearing a dark colored “bucket hat,” a blue and white horizontally striped shirt and long, baggy blue denim shorts, according to the report.

Once inside the store, the clerk said, the man lifted his shirt slightly, revealing what appeared to be the tan colored grip of a handgun secured by his waistband. The clerk said the suspect told him, “I hate to do this, but I need $40 from the cash register,” according to the report.

The clerk said he asked the man to show him the gun and told him that he could not give him the money from the register because the money was not his to give. The suspect, he said, then told him that he needed the money to buy insulin. He said he reasoned with the suspect, explaining to him that the money was the store’s and that he, the suspect, would go to jail if he took the money. The clerk told the suspect that instead he would give him the $40 from his own pocket. The suspect thanked the clerk, shook his hand and said he would come back to see him. The suspect left as another customer came in, the report states.

About two hours later, Fort Smith police were dispatched to Jet Away, 3638 Midland Blvd., in response to another robbery. The store employee who called police said that a black male wearing a black shirt, blue denim shorts and a blue bandanna, robbed the store armed with what appeared to be a .22-caliber rifle, according to a police report.

The Jet Away clerk told police that he noticed the suspect after he had stepped out of the food preparation area. The suspect, he said, pointed the rifle at him and demanded money from the register, according to the report.

The suspect fled the store with a black plastic sack filled with the store’s money. He was seen heading north toward Spradling Avenue, the report states.

Sgt. Levi Risley of the Fort Smith Police Department said the robberies are not believed to be connected.