San Diego
An Encinitas man crippled by a bullet fired by police as he fled from the robbery of a Mira Mesa savings and loan was sentenced Monday to five years’ probation.
U.S. District Judge Earl Gilliam suspended a 10-year prison term for William Lewis Meshke Jr., 31, who had pleaded guilty to robbing a Pacific Coast Savings & Loan Assn. office of $1,410 in March.
Meshke, who police believe was the so-called “Ponytail Bandit” responsible for at least 14 bank holdups during the early part of this year, is confined to a wheelchair after being paralyzed from mid-chest down by the bullet.
After a high-speed freeway chase, Meshke was shot after he stopped his pickup truck on northbound Interstate 5 near Del Mar and began running.
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