Car Stalls Getaway; Robber Still Loose

Police are looking for a dry-cleaning store robber who escaped pursuers on foot Monday when his accomplice couldn’t start their getaway car.

Police said they apprehended Anthony Jerome Collins, 20, of San Diego after a chase by officers on the ground, assisted by a San Diego County Sheriff’s Department helicopter. A resident saw Collins hiding atop a trailer in the 6000 block of Nancy Street after the helicopter circled the area, alerting residents that robbery suspects were in the neighborhood.

Police said the robbery occurred about 6:20 p.m. Monday when a man walked into Eldorado Cleaners & Laundry in the 2900 block of Navajo Road and tried to drag the clerk, Cynthia L. Tubbs, 22, to the back of the store. In the struggle, Tubbs fell to the floor. Then she ran out the front door while the man pulled the cash drawer out of the register.

Police said the man then ran out the back to meet his driver, who was waiting in a 1975 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. When the car wouldn’t start, witnesses told police, the men fled on foot.

“It was a very good break for us and not such a good break for the robbers,” said Lt. Buck Posey. “Maybe it just wasn’t their night.”

Nevertheless, the man carrying the cash drawer escaped with about $100, Posey said.

Collins was charged Tuesday with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and resisting arrest. He was held in County Jail in El Cajon on $5,500 bail.

Posey said the pair probably were experienced robbers, despite their car trouble, but Sheriff’s Department Lt. George Kneeshaw said he doubted their competence.

“The slick ones don’t stop the car . . . and don’t hide from a helicopter on top of a trailer,” Kneeshaw said.