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Bank robber allegedly tricked friend into driving getaway car

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane November 4, 2010 02:42 PM

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By L. Finch, Globe Correspondent

A Dorchester man who allegedly robbed a West Roxbury bank tricked his friend into driving the getaway car by telling him he was in a rush to leave because he had gotten into a fight with someone at the bank, police said.

Christopher A. Higgins, 43, pleaded not guilty today in municipal court in West Roxbury to one count of unarmed robbery, the Suffolk district attorney’s office. He was held on $5,000 cash bail.

The friend was interviewed by Boston police and released.

Officers received a report at 9:21 a.m. Wednesday that a thin white male wearing a black ski mask and blue hooded sweatshirt had robbed the Hyde Park Savings Bank on Centre Street, according to Boston police. The man had demanded money from the teller before getting into a brown sedan with Massachusetts registration and driving away, bank employees told police.

Police spotted a car matching the description soon after and stopped the vehicle. The driver told police he had, in fact, driven a friend to the bank earlier that morning so that the friend could cash a check, police said in a statement.

His friend had rushed out of the bank, the driver added, and told him to speed away, claiming to have gotten into a fight with someone inside, according to police. He told police he dropped him off at a Shaw’s supermarket in Dorchester, and provided a Savin Hill address where his friend might be headed.

Minutes after plainclothes officers arrived at the address, a taxi pulled up and a man matching the suspect’s description got out holding a blue hooded sweatshirt, according to police. When officers approached Higgins, he fled on foot, but was caught and arrested shortly afterward.

Higgins is expected back in court Dec. 6.