The State - News from June 16, 1988

An ex-gang member was hailed as a hero by San Francisco police after he chased an armed bank robber, tackled him in an alley and bashed his head with the robber’s .44-caliber Magnum revolver. “When the people standing around saw the .44 Magnum, they all screamed and dove for cover,” said the hero, Jim Sperow, who works as a printer. “It was like something out of a Clint Eastwood movie.” His tackle of one suspect and description of another resulted in the arrest of Robert Michael Linsey and Joe Dewayne Duke, both 41. Officers also recovered $52,527 in stolen money. Sperow, who has a wife and a 1 1/2-year-old daughter, was a gang member as a teen-ager, but two detectives steered him into a technical school, where he earned a degree.