Bank Robber Shot by Police, Sues County
This Week’s Wacky Wednesday: Bank Robber Shot by Police, Sues County!
While there might be old stories that romanticize bank robbery from the Wild West or from the acts of John Dillinger during the Depression, the reality of being a bank robber is not quite so glamorous. In fact, it is downright dangerous, and you would think that people who commit these acts would understand that there is a very good chance that they could be injured or killed. However, that does not seem to be what Todd Kirkpatrick had in mind.
Phony Pony Bandit
He was a serial bank robber who attempted to rob Key Bank in Stanwood, WA in 2012. Kirkpatrick has a history of financial problems and was linked to failed real estate developments. To help get out of those financial issues, he decided that the only course of action would be to rob banks. Kirkpatrick was called the Phony Pony Bandit because he would wear a fake wig with a pony tail on it as his disguise.
The first robbery was Banner Bank in Bellingham, followed by another robbery at the same bank just a month later. He then attempted to rob a Washington Federal bank located in La Conner. However, he was not able to enter the bank, as the tellers knew something was wrong and locked the door remotely. Just two days later, he was at it again and he robbed Skagit State Bank in Mount Vernon.
He was not content with the successes that he had, so he tried to rob Key Bank. However, things did not go quite as easily for him this time. When he was robbing the bank, he was confronted by the police, and he fled. When he was fleeing with $5,850 from the tellers, the armed robber pointed a gun at a Snohomish County deputy named Dan Scott.
The deputy chased the robber into the parking lot and shot Kirkpatrick multiple times. The money from the bank was in the robber’s pocket, and they found an unloaded gun on him. Kirkpatrick was taken to the hospital, where it took him about a month to recover.
Kirkpatrick plead guilty to four counts of first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree assault. Given the nature of his crimes and the fact that he was armed, he faced 20 years in prison. He was sentenced to 17 years and was unable to have any credit for good behavior due to the Hard Time for Armed Crime law.
Of course, Kirkpatrick seems like the type of person who does not like to work hard for money, so he saw another opportunity to make some cash. He decided that he would sue the county, claiming that the medical costs for the gunshot wounds were around $300,000, and that the deputy was trying to execute him. He ended up suing for $6.3 million.
However, in 2017, a federal judge decided to dismiss the lawsuit that was leveled against the county, believing it to have no merit.