MADISON TOWNSHIP — An off-duty Conneaut police officer let his natural instincts take over Christmas Eve while helping foil an armed robbery at a cash advance store on Hubbard Road.
A 38-year-old Cleveland man is scheduled for arraignment at 1 p.m. Monday in Painesville Municipal Court and may be wishing he would have pointed his gun at someone else.
Jason Rivers said he walked into the Advance America Cash Advance as a customer and while standing in line noticed that the expressions of the employees changed and he realized something was awry.
“I kind of just looked to my left and he (the suspect) put the gun to my temple and said he was going to blow my ... brains out if I moved,” Rivers said.
That’s when 30 years of martial arts training kicked into full gear and he knocked the gun away from his head and punched the suspect in the throat, Rivers said. He said the man never dropped his gun and they fought for a brief time before Rivers realized the man was trying to leave and he let him go.
Rivers said as he was fighting he tried to keep him close, so he couldn’t shoot him or the employees, and then he took cover to make sure he could see where the getaway car was going.
“Honestly it’s a trained reaction. I’ve been in martial arts since I was five. I really just reacted and I was mad,” he said.
Rivers said if the man had been further away he wouldn’t have reacted in the same way because he or an employee might have been shot. “That over exaggerated aggression (the man putting the gun to his head) made me think this guy was pretty serious,” he said.
Rivers, 35, is about six feet tall and weighs approximately 205 pounds. “It could have went really bad he could have shot me in the head,” he said.
As the man left the store and ran to a vehicle Rivers said he kept cover between him and the armed man but made sure he knew what direction the vehicle went. He said he told the employees to call 911 and lock the building while he went to his vehicle and waited for Madison Township police officers to arrive.
Madison Township police officers were dispatched to the store located at 2704 Hubbard Road around 1:29 p.m. Dec. 24, Det. Dan Boerner states in a press release.
The press release also states that the suspect entered a vehicle (a green/tan Mercury station wagon) and the vehicle and its occupants fled westbound on Route 20, Boerner states in the release.
The vehicle was located by the Lake County Sheriff’s Department on Route 2 near the Route 44 intersection, Boerner states.
“The vehicle was successfully stopped on Route 2 near Route 615 by the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, the Mentor Police Department and other assisting agencies,” Boerner states.
“All of the occupants were identified and brought back to the Madison Township Police Department for questioning. Ultimately, the suspect was identified and transported to the Lake County Jail pending his arraignment,” Boerner states in the release.
The suspect has been charged with aggravated robbery and one count of weapons under a disability, Boerner states. He said the investigation is continuing and further charges may be considered.
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Off-duty Conneaut cop saves day for Madison Township cash advance
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