THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702150369
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 56 lines
CENTRAL VIRGINIA Richmond robbery was rare exhibit of crime brutality
RICHMOND - The two heavily armed bank robbers who killed a teller and wounded three people in a NationsBank branch showed a level of brutality extremely rare in bank holdups, crime statistics show.
Only three of the 7,067 bank robberies in the United States in 1995 resulted in the death of someone other than the robber, according to the most recent FBI figures. About 3 percent of the robberies resulted in injuries.
On Jan. 30, however, two men riddled the inside of NationsBank with bullets, exchanged gunfire with the bank's security guard and two policemen.
In most robberies, only the robber and the bank employee he confronts are aware that a holdup is taking place, said Sonya Barbera, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association. Doctor's warning ignored
RICHMOND - A doctor's warning that Central State Hospital patient Gloria Jean Huntley could die in restraints was not given to investigators after she died strapped to a bed, according to the state mental health commissioner.
Almost a year earlier, Huntley's psychiatrist, Dr. Dimitrios Theodoridis, warned hospital officials that Huntley would be more likely to die if restrained because of her asthma and epileptic seizures.
Mental health commissioner Timothy A. Kelly said in a Feb. 5 memo that he asked the auditor to determine whether the hospital staff heeded Theodoridis' warning and his appeals that Huntley be treated more humanely.
The investigation is continuing.
ALSO. . .
NEWPORT NEWS - Sgt. Alan R. Griffith, a police sergeant accused of fondling a 16-year-old girl at his home, has been charged with aggravated sexual battery of a juvenile, police said.
Griffith was arrested Thursday night and released on $5,000 bond. He has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending an internal investigation, police spokeswoman Patty Schlosser said.
COMING UP
TODAY: Lynchburg - Henry Louis Gates Jr., of Harvard University, addresses a symposium on African-American art and culture at Lynchburg University, 5 p.m., Hall Campus Center. MEMO: From The Associated Press ILLUSTRATION: The bank's camera took this photograph of one of two
gunmen who robbed a NationsBank branch office in Richmond on Jan.
30.
ASSOCIATED PRESS