Local News in Brief : Costa Mesa : Bystanders Run Down Suspect in Robbery

Three bystanders who saw a man snatch money bags from a woman in a bank parking lot Monday morning chased a suspect across the parking lot and a field until police arrived to arrest him.

Police said at least two bags containing checks and about $1,000 in cash were being carried to the Bank of America branch on Harbor Boulevard near Adams Avenue by an employee of Pier One Imports when the robber grabbed the bags and ran.

The bystanders, a woman and two men, followed the suspect around a bowling alley, past a skating rink and a movie theater, then across a large plowed field until the suspect stopped near Adams and Mesa Verde Drive East.

“He just ran out of gas, I guess,” Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dennis Cost said. “And the guys were right on him.”

The woman fell behind to pick up money the suspect threw down as he fled, Cost said.

Police identified the robbery suspect’s pursuers as Kathleen Diambra, 30, of Huntington Beach and Daniel Freeman, 31, and Thomas Anderson, 38, of Costa Mesa.

The suspect, identified as David Wayne Mack, 24, of Garden Grove, was taken to the city jail, where he is held in lieu of $50,000 bail. Mack was unarmed when he was arrested, Cost said.