Drive thru ATM incident
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:44 pm
Tuesday night 7PM 3-1-2005 EECU in downtown Fort Worth. This ATM is a separate outbuilding in the parking lot about 10 feet square. The parking lot and 3 sides of this building were well lit. The suspect was standing in the shadowed side next to the street. A nice, clean, big SUV was at the ATM and the female driver was not close enough to make her transaction without opening her door. Ladies, this is not good and makes you more exposed!
I pulled into the parking lot and stopped about 2 car lengths behind the SUV while watching the suspect. Yes, I was driving one-handed at this point :)
The suspect approached my vehicle with his right in his pants pocket and I could see that his hand was closed inside his pocket. Already too many red flags at this point, wrong place, wrong time, wrong actions, wrong body language, etc. I couldn't understand what he said because I didn't even roll my window down. There was no need to even engage in Q&A at this point. OK, so I'm rude and unfriendly sometimes, but I saw no reason to play his game. For the next 15 or 20 seconds, I just stared at his right hand / pocket area and shook my head sideways. He then returned to the ATM building. My cash withdrawl was completed without incident and I drove about 1 block down and stopped to contemplate a phone call. A FWPD unit drove by during that time and was headed towards the ATM so I left it at that.
After much afterthought, I think the suspect was looking for an easy and cooperative victim and decided not to push me. I'm thankful he didn't and I'm also thankful that my right hand was not empty, even though the suspect never saw what I was holding.
I pulled into the parking lot and stopped about 2 car lengths behind the SUV while watching the suspect. Yes, I was driving one-handed at this point :)
The suspect approached my vehicle with his right in his pants pocket and I could see that his hand was closed inside his pocket. Already too many red flags at this point, wrong place, wrong time, wrong actions, wrong body language, etc. I couldn't understand what he said because I didn't even roll my window down. There was no need to even engage in Q&A at this point. OK, so I'm rude and unfriendly sometimes, but I saw no reason to play his game. For the next 15 or 20 seconds, I just stared at his right hand / pocket area and shook my head sideways. He then returned to the ATM building. My cash withdrawl was completed without incident and I drove about 1 block down and stopped to contemplate a phone call. A FWPD unit drove by during that time and was headed towards the ATM so I left it at that.
After much afterthought, I think the suspect was looking for an easy and cooperative victim and decided not to push me. I'm thankful he didn't and I'm also thankful that my right hand was not empty, even though the suspect never saw what I was holding.
If he had made the call the chances of the Fort Worth PD rolling on it would have been slim to none and, if they had rolled, it would have been at a minimum an hour before they did.