One-legged Bank Robber Orders Penn Station Sub After Heist

(Thursday, January 18, 2007) - A one-legged bank robber in a wheelchair was probably the last person Amanda Carriker expected to see in her sub shop.

But that's who police came to Penn Station East Coast Subs looking for: a man who robbed a nearby bank. The man was left stranded after a dye pack exploded, prompting his scared accomplice to drive off without him.

"I said, 'You're telling me that an unarmed man with one leg just robbed a bank and then wheeled over here to get a sub?" she asked an officer.

"Yes, that's about right," she said the officer replied, laughing.

The caper unfolded Saturday about 11 a.m. at the SunTrust branch at 10300 Midlothian Turnpike, where a man in a wheelchair gave a teller a note demanding money, police said. He then made his way across a parking lot to the sub shop, where employees thought he was just another customer.

The man bought a sub with a $20 bill stained with a spot of deep purple ink on one corner. "We thought nothing of it," said Carriker, the general manager.

Officers entered about 10 minutes later and asked about a man in a wheelchair. Carriker pointed to her customer.

"I guess the guy heard the officers ask that, and he raised his hand like, 'I'm here.'"

As the man was being questioned, he pulled out a wad of bills and raised his shirt, which revealed purple stains all over his pants, Carriker said.

Norman L. Ampy, 32, of the 400 block of Westover Hills Drive in Richmond, was charged with robbery, felony use of a firearm and conspiracy to commit robbery. A getaway driver has not been arrested.

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