DPS: Bank robber intended suicide
Staff reports
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 6, 2007 05:54 PM
Authorities on Thursday identified Richard D. Schwartz, 25, as the man police chased following a Tempe bank robbery Wednesday and Alexander S. Ahmad, 24, as the driver of a vehicle that Schwartz crashed into head-on, killing them both.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said Schwartz intended to commit suicide when he crashed into Ahmad's vehicle on the Salt River Reservation after fleeing from police.
"It appears from new information that the suspect intended to kill himself," said Jack Lane, chief of the Highway Patrol Division of the DPS. He would not elaborate, except to say that the accused bank robber was "clearly a danger to the community."
FBI spokesman Manuel Johnson said the suspected robber had struck four times in three weeks at bank branches in Chandler, Mesa and Tempe. In addition to Wednesday's Tempe robbery, he said, Schwartz is suspected of robbing a Wachovia branch at 1305 S. Alma School Road in Mesa on Nov. 24 and again on Monday. On Nov. 20, he's suspected of robbing the Chandler Washington Mutual at 2001 N. Arizona Avenue.
Johnson said it's not uncommon for bank robbers to strike with increasing frequency after believing that they "got away" with previous robberies.
"Based upon my experiences, some of these bank robbers were drug addicts," Johnson said, adding that he doesn't yet know if that's true in this case.
DPS is investigating the crash and the actions of the officers from various agencies involved in the pursuit. Tempe police and the FBI are investigating the bank robbery.
Schwartz is suspected of robbing a Tempe Bank of America branch at Warner Road and McClintock Drive at 1:50 p.m. Wednesday. A Tempe officer was one of several cops involved in the initial attempt to stop the suspect's grey Nissan Altima when they discovered it at Baseline Road and Country Club Drive in Mesa, shortly after the robbery.
From there, Schwartz fled again, leading police through several East Valley cities.
Lane said that a preliminary investigation shows that officers were acting according to policy when they pursued Schwartz. He said the DPS pursuit policy would be reviewed.
"Are there other and better ways of doing these things, that's what we're looking at," Lane said.
Earlier Thursday, Tempe police defended their decision to pursue the man, saying it was based on his violent actions during the robbery and judging him an "extreme threat to society" after he pointed a gun at customers, yelled at them to hit the ground and then trained the gun on a teller.
"This is a very aggressive, violent bank robbery. We're very fortunate that no one was shot inside the bank," Tempe police spokesman Mike Horn said. "This was an extremely violent criminal."
Horn said Tempe police pursued Schwartz south down Country Club Drive, which becomes Arizona Avenue in Chandler, but terminated the pursuit at that point. Other agencies continued with the pursuit, but many details have not yet been released by the various agencies.
At one point, DPS officers threw out tire deflation devices on northbound Loop 101 near Elliot Road, but Schwartz swerved to the right, missing them. According to police, he exited and got back onto the freeway several times. Schwartz then exited northbound Loop 101 at McKellips Road and headed east.
Horn said a Tempe gang detective driving an unmarked car was an estimated 1½ to 2 minutes behind the Altima when Schwartz swerved into oncoming traffic and crashed head-on into Ahmad. DPS officials Wednesday said that at the time of the crash DPS and Chandler police officers were trailing the car.
Chandler police say they are investigating "the dynamics" of the incident and have not confirmed their involvement, said Detective Frank Mendoza, a Chandler police spokesman, Thursday.
DPS Cmdr. Tom Woodward declined to estimate how fast Schwartz or patrols were going. Video footage of the pursuit shows officers were some distance from the cars. Police reported losing visual contact with the vehicle at various times. DPS officials would not say how close patrol cars got to Schwartz throughout the pursuit.
Speed and the fact that the chase occurred in a populated area factors into the DPS pursuit policy, but those are not sole determinants, Woodward said.
Republic reporters Cyrus Karimi, Jim Walsh, Senta Scarborough, Dave Seibert and Lindsey Collom contributed to this article.
