By ERIN MATHEWS
Salina Journal
A man who asked an employee for a quarter in exchange for two dimes and a nickel grabbed more cash than that out of the Taco John's cash register drawer when it opened Monday afternoon and ran through at least two downtown Salina businesses as he escaped.
A Kansas Highway Patrol helicopter circled the downtown area looking for the robber, described as a white male in his 40s with dark brown hair, 5 foot 8 inches tall, about 220 pounds, wearing a baseball cap, a light colored T-shirt and shorts. Several police patrol cars had established a perimeter around the downtown area after the robbery at 1:38 p.m.
Harley Hamilton, a new employee at Taco John's, 303 S. Santa Fe, described her first day of work as crazy. She said she was about to hand a bag of food out the drive-thru window when someone yelled, "Hey!" Thinking she might have forgotten something from the order, she turned to see the cashier trying to hold a man's hands out of the cash register.
He grabbed cash, stuffed it in his pocket and took off running out the front door, she said.
Cody Sherman was eating lunch in the restaurant with his girlfriend, Auzia Leazer, when the robbery occurred.
"The women screaming caught my attention," Sherman said. "I looked up, and he had the register in his hands, shaking it. He grabbed the money and headed out the front door."
"I said, 'What are you doing? Go get him,' " Leazer said.
Sherman ran out the side door in pursuit of the man, who headed north down the alley and turned through the First Bank Kansas drive-thru at 235 S. Santa Fe. The two ran across Santa Fe Avenue, where the robber ran through Midwest Music, 210 S. Santa Fe.
Sherman said he got pretty close to the man early in the chase, but when the robber threatened to stab him, he backed off. He never saw a weapon.
"I didn't want to get stabbed over a taco," he said. "I didn't figure it was worth that."
Blake Blackim, owner of Midwest Music, said he didn't think that much about it when a man ran through the store because it isn't that uncommon for children to run through.
"He was winded," Blackim said. "I guarantee he wasn't going to get very far. He was huffing and puffing."
About the time the man was going out the back door of the store, Sherman came in the front. That's where he ended his pursuit.
The robber was last seen running west from the area of 225 S. Santa Fe, according to a Salina Police Department news release.
A little later, a man who matched the robber's description visited Computer Connection, 144 S. Santa Fe. By then, he was no longer running, and he asked questions about a refurbished computer.
"Other than being completely exhausted and looking over his shoulder, he acted pretty normal," said Sam Switzer, the store's assistant manager.
©Salina Journal