ATM blagger cuffed after artificial leg falls off

California ne'er-do-well caught on the hop

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 12th April 2007 10:12 GMT

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A would-be ATM blagger was cuffed after losing his artificial leg during a police pursuit - thereby depriving him of the full complement of limbs required to show officers a clean set of heels.

According to AP, 48-year-old Gregory Daniels and an accomplice drove up to Pomona Ranch Market, California, last Tuesday at 3am, smashed a window and attached a chain from their pickup truck to an ATM. They ripped the machine from its mountings, loaded it onto the truck and made off with their prize.

Police duly chased the vehicle into a dead-end street in a residential neighbourhood, where Daniels' chum successfully legged it. Daniels, though, was quickly apprehended, as Sergeant E Vazquez explained: "Daniels was on the ground near the vehicle in an attempt to flee from officers. However, he was unsuccessful, as his prosthetic leg fell off."

The ATM was recovered, AP notes. Whether Pomona law enforcement pre-empted a possible jailbreak by confiscating Daniels' tin leg - a technique perfected by wartime German authorities when faced with the escape-prone Douglas Bader - is not reported. ®

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