Special to THE JOURNAL / Eleanor PINAULT
An East Providence police officer is taken on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance. He was injured when two suspects in a bank robbery crashed their car into his cruiser on Rutland Street Friday. He was treated at Rhode Island Hospital and released.
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Two men who the police say were fleeing a bank robbery in Barrington were arrested around 5:40 p.m. Friday after crashing their car into a police cruiser on Rutland Street.
East Providence police Lt. Michael David said East Providence was notified by Barrington police around 5:30 p.m. that they were pursuing two men suspected of robbing Bank of America's Barrington branch at 257 County Rd.
The suspects, who had fled the bank with a large amount of money, were armed and considered dangerous, according to the police. The suspects drove up Route 114 to Route 195 west to Broadway and then through several residential streets before crashing the Hyundai Elantra into an East Providence cruiser, which had joined the chase.
A police lieutenant in the cruiser was injured, as were both suspects. All were taken to Rhode Island Hospital.
David said the lieutenant and the driver of the car, whose name was being withheld pending confirmation as to who he said he is, are out of the hospital. In addition to charges relating to the bank robbery, the driver will be facing charges of reckless driving and eluding police.
Barrington Police Chief John M. LaCross said the two men are suspects in other bank robberies in the area.