Police chase, arrest man wanted for bank robbery

A man who allegedly robbed a bank in downtown Palo Alto Monday afternoon was captured about a block away after leading officers on a foot chase Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Rudi Romano Griffin, 43, of East Palo Alto, is a suspect in the city’s first bank robbery of the year at a Bank of America at 530 Lytton Ave. reported to dispatch around 1:20 p.m., police said. Officers who responded to the scene were unable to find the thief that afternoon.

Griffin went inside the bank and allegedly passed a demand note to a teller who gave him an undisclosed amount of money. The suspect left the building and was last seen walking on eastbound Lytton Avenue, according to police.

The Police Department released a still image of the robber captured through the bank’s surveillance system and asked for the public’s help in identifying the man.

Around 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, an employee at Shoe Palace at 451 University Ave. reported seeing the man who walked inside in the store and paid for merchandise with multiple crisp $100 bills, according to police.

The employee recognized the man’s picture through media coverage of the robbery and stated the suspect shaved off his facial hair since the theft occurred a day earlier, police said.

Officers quickly responded to the area and tried to detain the man, later identified as Griffin, in the 400 block of University Avenue police said.

Griffin ran away, but officers caught up with him in the same block and deployed a Taser on the man as he fought with them, police said. The officers weren’t injured in the pursuit.

The 43-year-old man was left with minor injuries from the chase and treated at a hospital, which is a standard department practice after police use a Taser.

Officers arrested Griffin on suspicion of committing a bank robbery and resisting arrest; he was also found to be on probation in Santa Clara County for theft, police said.

The East Palo Alto man was booked into the county’s Main Jail in San Jose.

Former Palo Alto resident Tim Fall saw the scene unfold while sitting in traffic behind a white truck on University Avenue facing El Camino Real. He heard police yell “Stop!” and saw two officers sprint toward Griffin, who he said didn’t appear to be running away, on the street between Waverley and Kipling streets. They tackled him on the roadway in front of traffic already stopped at a red light.

“They were on top of him within two seconds,” Fall recalled from his vantage point about 10 feet away. “I barely figured out what was going on before they had him on the ground.”

Fall couldn’t tell if Griffin was struggling as one of the officers was on top of him; he grew worried when one of the officers used a Taser aimed directly at Grifin’s back that was partially exposed.

“My biggest worry came when they pulled the Taser because that is an escalation,” he said.

A third officer showed up about 10 seconds later as the other two officers were subduing Griffin on the street where about five police cars were parked, according to Fall.

Another officer pulled aside three men among a group of bystanders who were filming the detainment and apparently ended up in an argument with the men.

“It did appear from the tone of the conversation and clear gesturing that (the officer was) trying to get the phones for whatever reason,” Fall said, adding he didn’t see the men get handcuffed or stopped from leaving the scene.

A number of people were filming the incident, which tends to happen when there’s “dramatic police action” in public, Capt. Zach Perron said.

Officers didn’t tell anyone to turn off their recording devices, but asked people who were filming to move off the street because they were blocking traffic, according to Perron.

According to city policy, all Taser incidents are subject to review by the department’s Independent Police Auditor.

The department also conducts an administrative review when police use force and compiles a report that’s ultimately sent to the police chief, Perron said.

Griffin and another man, Kenneth David Sanchez, were arrested in February for robbing a 7-Eleven at 401 Waverley St. where they allegedly argued with a store clerk over the price of some items and a doughnut Griffin ate before reaching the cash register, police said.

The clerk asked a co-worker to stand by the door and they both ended up in a struggle with the men, according to police. Sanchez allegedly punched one of the clerks who was left with a bloody nose.

Anyone with additional information on this week’s robbery and chase is asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the department’s free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.