By Joy Bergmann
A local man, Roderick Smith, 30, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after allegedly robbing or attempting to rob three Upper West Side banks over the past two days, an NYPD spokesperson told WSR.
The suspect’s first target, police said, was the Wells Fargo branch at 2415 Broadway (89th St.). At 11:25 a.m. Tuesday, he allegedly passed a note to a teller, received approximately $320 and fled on foot.
On Wednesday afternoon around 12:45 p.m., the suspect allegedly attempted to rob the HSBC at 721 Amsterdam Avenue (95th St.) but fled without receiving any funds, police said.
About 10 minutes later, police said, the suspect allegedly passed a note to a teller at the Bank of America branch at 2574 Broadway (97th St.) and received approximately $500 before fleeing.
Witnesses were able to point officers toward the suspect’s location. By 1:30 p.m., he was in custody, police said.
NYPD said no weapons were displayed during any of the incidents.
It’s almost a stretch to call it a bank robbery when all you do is pass a note to the teller and they give you a few hundred bucks to go away.
Good point, Mark Moore. Obviously the guy was trying to start a neighborhood penpal club.
Well, it was a robbery, and it was a bank, so….
Who am I to argue with Willie Sutton about bank robberies?
I wonder when the media will shift reporting NYers exodus due to Covid to the more accurate reality that they are fleeing this.
That’s pretty funny given the facts.
The facts are that if you move to any other city the odds are 4:1 that it’ll have a higher crime rate.
Chicken Little is still wrong.
@Good Humor: When Biden is removed from the presidency and Donald Trump is sworn in as president because the American People realize that the entire election was a fraud and not a single person actually voted for Biden. /s/
Fleeing what? Note-passing bank robberies? This stuff has been going on forever.
Thank you for this story and kudos to the police for making the arrest.
I would appreciate a follow-up to know what sentencing, if any, occurs. Given current trends, I feel like he will be immediately let out of jail and given an Amazon gift card for his troubles.
Bail reform did not have any effect on sentencing. It just means that accused, not convicted, people can’t be detained indefinitely by the police without being proven guilty just because they can’t write a check. At this point, if you don’t understand that, it’s because you choose not to.
The present bail reform does not allow judges to make decisions to hold certain offenders if they deem them dangerous or have done the crime several times. That is why he WILL be out again with a date to come back to a court hearing and we all know that most likely won’t happen. Bail reform needs to be reformed itself so common sense and safety play a role. At this point, if you don’t understand that, it’s because you choose not to.
@Sarah: You are missing my point. We have gotten soft on crime. Someone who is clearly identified for committing a crime like this should be put away. This is not a kid stealing a pack of gum. But unfortunately, criminals are right back on the street. Do the crime, do the time. I want to know whether he faces any penalty. Simple request. What would you prefer? I’m looking forward to your answer to that simple question.
And yet, if a person shows up on cameras in three banks over two days and robs them, is there no reason why bail can’t be imposed?
It’s a dying art. You can’t pull off a good bank caper anymore. Too many cameras. I miss the good old days when you could flee and get out of town without arrest
Why are there no women bank robbers? I feel like women are under represented in the whole crime thing.
Definitely a problem we need to get to the bottom of.
Handing a note?! Where’s the pizzazz? Where’s the excitement? This isn’t a very cool or cinematic “bank robbery”.
Go watch Inside Man with Denzel Washington and Clive Owen if you wanna see a real bank robbery movie. Just a perfect movie if you ask me. Check it out.
Dog Day Afternoon is pretty amazing also. Michael Mann’s Heat and the opening scene of The Dark Knight get honorable mention.
I’m sure that I missed a few.
No weapon? Do he doesn’t do hard time? That sux.
If you happen to work in a bank or be present when something like this happens, you might not be making so many jokes. When a note says “I have a gun” do you want to count on it being a bluff?
Aren’t all tellers behind bulletproof partitions? There’s not much a bank robber can do to threaten tellers these days.
Customers are not behind plexiglass.
I clearly referred to tellers, not customers. That’s the point of committing a bank robbery. Otherwise, they could rob a fruit stand on Broadway where they could probably get more cash from the vendor and/or customers.
Do we still want to defund the police?
“De-funding the police isn’t an accurate description of what’s being proposed. Re-directing some of the NYPD funding to more
productive ends: training and education and,
yes, counselling police on where crime is coming from. Studying where all these guns are
coming from. It’s re-directing some of the funding, not just taking it away.
That slogan “Defund the Police” is an unfortunate attempt of hyperbole. Most people, even upper westside progressives roll their eyes at such an idea. What most people want to to reform the police, not get rid of them.
Where would we be without the NYPD there to protect us from guys with notepad? Totally worth the beatings and shootings
Please provide the statistics on extrajudicial beatings and shootings, relative to the thousands of police-civilian interactions per day. Please break it down by situation: high-risk suspect, gun involvement, contentious/resisting behavior, law-abiding guy going to the bakery, etc. etc.
Thanks. I look forward to analyzing if it’s “worth” it.
Only after you give me a full breakdown of notepad-related crimes in NYC
Technically this will fall under a nonviolent offense. The guy is out already. And Linda Rosenthal loves it