A 27-year-old would-be bank robber is behind bars in Ohio after he dropped through a drive-through ceiling straight into a trash can in front of waiting Huron police officers.
The entire “Darwin Awards”-worthy incident was caught on one of the officer’s bodycam.
(Video: YouTube)
At approximately 2:12 a.m. on Thursday, officers responded to an alarm from the VacationLand Federal Credit Union in Huron, Fox News Digital reports.
As they were checking out the building, the officers spotted a blue recycling bin strategically placed in the middle of the credit union’s drive-thru, right below an access door in the drive-thru’s roof, according to Huron Police Chief Terry Graham. Overhead, they could hear rustling and banging noises.
As the officers looked on, the access door opened and a backpack dropped to the ground. Inside, police said, were several construction tools. Moments later, as the officers drew their weapons and waited, the legs of Huron resident Tristan Heidl dangled from the access door.
As he lowered himself to the recycling bin, one of the officers shouted, “On the ground mother—-er, on the ground! You get on the ground!”
Startled, Heidl fell, yelling, straight into the trash can, his arms raised over his head. He was reportedly uninjured by his fall and, after being pulled from the bin in handcuffs, surrendered without a fight.
“He was cooperative once he was apprehended,” Graham said. “He answered the officers’ questions truthfully, and he just said he was broke.”
Heidl was charged with “breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony; possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony; and safecracking, a fourth-degree felony under Ohio law,” Fox News reports. If convicted, he could face more than three years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
The suspect is currently being held on a $50,000 bond at the Erie County Jail.
While Heidl’s alleged crime serves as a hilarious “How Not To Rob A Bank” guide, the fact is, according to Fox News’s “Crime Stories” host Nancy Grace, criminals across the country “are more brazen” thanks to progressive policies and the anti-police push from liberal activists.
“There was a time when I would have said, I don’t think crime is worse per capita than it was in the past, where there are just greater populations and therefore a commensurate greater population of criminals,” Grace told Fox News Digital. “They are more brazen, and I now believe there are more of them per capita, more criminals per capita.”
“Why?” she asked. “The decline in police numbers, the anti-police movement.”
In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed called in June for a $63 million increase in spending for the city’s police as drugs, the homeless, and unfettered crime have forced multiple big-name retailers to close their doors and flee to friendlier pastures.
‘Worse than Afghanistan’: San Francisco mayor asks for $63M to bolster police amid growing crime https://t.co/w0k8MAQzY4 pic.twitter.com/4nsoVAQTX5
— BizPac Review (@BIZPACReview) June 8, 2023
And, according to Fox News, “Washington, D.C., is experiencing a 30 percent increase in violent crime in 2023 compared to last year.”
“One hundred and twenty-five people have been shot and killed this year, a 17 percent increase from last year as the city struggles with a police staffing crisis,” the outlet reports. “The city’s police budget was cut roughly $23 million by the city council in 2020 amid the George Floyd rioting and nationwide calls to defund the police.”
“Our criminal justice system has largely transitioned from focusing on the needs of the victims of crime to the needs of defendants,” criminal defense attorney Joseph Gutheinz told Fox News Digital. “The police are concerned about being ridiculed, prosecuted or fired for enforcing the law and are backing off stopping, interviewing and arresting wrongdoers.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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