Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Felony lane

The "felony lane" is the lane at a bank drive-through furthest from the teller. In recent years, the modus operandi of thieves with forged checks has increasingly included the use of the felony lane to pass checks. Here's how it works: someone steals the victim's purse at a pool, golf course, trailhead, school, or similar location by busting into a parked car. Armed with the victim's ID and checks, an accomplice driving a stolen vehicle or one with stolen plates--often donning a disguise to resemble the victim--presents a forged check in the "felony lane", sending the genuine ID along in the pneumatic tube. An alert teller at a Union Bank branch, forewarned by Union's security staff, noted the vehicle description from an earlier case yesterday at another bank. The result was this pursuit, which ended in a dramatic collision. Thank God, no one was critically injured. As noted by a witness, however, it was a matter of inches.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since LPD called off this pursuit and it was taken over by NSP, who later called off their pursuit just before the accident, which governmental agency is going to end up paying for the damages to the drivers of the other two vehicles?

Anonymous said...

It all is tax, tax you pay. So in the end it makes no diff.

Steve said...

Doesn't it seem odd that the crash always seems to happen right after the police call off the chase? I'm imagining a cartoon where the police officer is on the radio saying, "Suspect's car appears headed for a major crash." Dispatcher responds, "Abandon pursuit, Abandon pursuit!"

Don't get me wrong, despite the dangers of high speed pursuits, I hate to see the bad guys get away. Simply knowing police will, in all likelihood, not chase a speeding car is all the more reason for the bad guys to do what they do.

Anonymous said...

Who's going to pay? Well I imagine the 'bad guys' would be responsible for this crash. I don't understand why this would be NSP's or LPD's fault. The driver of the suspect's car committed a number of traffic offenses the least of which being fleeing from the police.

Realistically who will end up paying? Probably the victim's insurance. The reality of the situation is that the suspects are probably not insured.

Anonymous said...

The pursuit wouldn't happen if the suspect didn't flee. However, lawyers in the state legislature beg to differ. There are a lot of laws like that, bottom-feeders authoring and passing laws that help out their fellow bottom-feeders.

They could have stopped fleeing at any time, so a reasonable person would assume the fault is theirs, but again, the lawyers in the Unicameral disagree. Average criminals just don't have very deep pockets for a scuzzy tort shyster to pilfer, unlike local, county, and state gub-mints.

Steve said...

The bad guys can pay for all the damages and injuries with forged checks.

Steve said...

Apparently, the right-hand lane of the Interstate is also a felony lane if you suddenly decide to make a U-turn at a crossing for emergency vehicles only and take out two motorcycles. I could possibly forgive someone for failing to check their blind spot and making a lane change, but anyone who drives should know that U-turns on the Interstate are illegal. Therefore, this woman intentionally committed an illegal act in a motor vehicle that resulted in a death. I certainly hope this is not plea bargained down to some lesser offense. I realize she has several children who will need someone to look after them, but if she is going to continue endangering their lives with that kind of driving, they should be with someone else.

Dimbulb said...

Why was the intersection closed for two hours after the collision? I trust there are good reasons, I'm just not smart enough to guess what they might be.

Tom Casady said...

Dim bulb,

Nebraska's strict liability law leaves taxpayers on the hook for the actions of these criminals. A thorough reconstruction and investigation is in their best interest, and that takes some time.

Anonymous said...

A little electronic bird told me that you just got a few more of these miscreants.