Police Say South Carolina Man Tried to Escape From Bank Robbery by Hailing a Taxi

A man tried to escape a bank robbery in a taxi, police said until the volunteer fire chief hunted him down.

Phil Napier, chief of the Graniteville Vaucluse Warrenville Volunteer Fire Department, owns a hardware store and flower shop next to the Security Federal Bank in Graniteville. Napier said a customer in his store told him about the bank robbery.

"I told them to watch the store and I jumped in the truck," Napier told The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.

He followed the taxi for several miles and radioed deputies, who pulled the cab over. Thomas R. Washington, 40, of Graniteville was charged with entering a financial institution with intent to steal and grand larceny, according to a news release from the Aiken County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Michael Frank said the cab driver was unaware his passenger was robbing the bank. Police did not say how much money was stolen.

A telephone number for a Thomas Washington in Graniteville was disconnected.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2929981