Bank robbery suspect killed in crash after Anaheim car chase

A bank robbery suspect was killed in a car crash and another critically injured Friday afternoon after leading police on a chase through Anaheim.

Lt. Tim Schmidt said the two suspects walked into the Bank of the West on La Palma Avenue in Anaheim shortly before 2 p.m. and robbed both the bank and a customer who was in line. He declined to say whether they were armed, citing the ongoing investigation.

A witness to the robbery saw the suspects drive away and gave police a vehicle description and license plate number. Officers found the getaway car, a Honda Civic, and attempted to pull it over, Schmidt said, but the suspects fled.

The chase “went in and out of the city of Anaheim for about 10 minutes,” he said, before the driver lost control while driving at a high rate of speed eastbound in the 3400 block of La Palma. The car crashed into a sign in front of Kaiser Permanente’s Anaheim Medical Center and then wrapped around a light pole, Schmidt said.

The driver was taken to Western Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The passenger was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center, in critical condition. Police have not released the suspects’ names. Schmidt said there were no other outstanding suspects in the robbery.

Police recovered money from the car, but have not yet determined how much was taken.

[Updated at 7:17 p.m.: Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said one suspect was seen in the bank, and the other was believed to be outside. “In the note the suspect passed to the victim teller, he threatened a gun and demanded cash,” Eimiller said in an email. “”The suspect then spotted cash that had been given to another customer at a separate counter and took it before fleeing the bank.” The FBI will investigate whether the suspects are linked to any previous robberies.]

Twitter: @sewella

abby.sewell@latimes.com