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Boston police captain arrests bank robbery suspect on way to lunch

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane October 20, 2010 03:40 PM

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By L. Finch, Globe Correspondent

A Boston police captain was discussing a recent bank robbery with a fellow officer as they walked to lunch today when he looked up to see a man matching the suspect's description right in front of his eyes.

The tuna melt sandwich would have to wait.

Captain John Greland arrested the suspect after he saw him standing outside of Doyle's Café on Washington Street, where Greland and other officers were meeting for lunch to celebrate a colleague who had won an award.

“These are hard to come by,” Greland said. “I’m sure my wife isn’t going to believe me when I tell her this happened.”

Daniel Webster, 44, of Hyde Park had allegedly robbed the Commonwealth Cooperative Bank in Jamaica Plain Monday afternoon, demanding money, apologizing to the teller then fleeing on foot with the cash, according to Boston police. Surveillance footage captured a thin man about 5-foot-4 with acne, wearing a brown construction jacket, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

Greland was walking with a fellow police sergeant down the street from the station to the café two days later, chatting about the bank robbery, when Greland said he casually looked up and saw, to his surprise, a man matching the description of the bank robber standing about 15 feet away.

Greland said he called out to the man, who was wearing similar clothing to what was captured in the surveillance footage, but he wouldn’t turn around. Greland then approached Webster, who avoided showing his face, the officer said.

Greland requested that officers bring him a still from the surveillance footage, and after he compared the photograph to Webster standing in front of him, Greland arrested him.

“You could see his shoulders slump when I put the photo up to him, thinking, “Shoot! they got me,’” he said.

Officers took the man away for booking, and Greland continued to the café for his sandwich.

It wasn’t the first time Greland happened upon a bank robbery suspect. Nearly 20 years ago at the MBTA Ashmont Station, Greland said he happened to spot a different man wanted in connection to a bank robbery and arrested him.