USC Football Players Aid Police in Arrest of Robbery Suspects

USC football players Don Gibson and Pat Harlow helped police arrest two robbery suspects last month, detective Jary Quinones of the Los Angeles Police Dept. said Wednesday.

Driving on Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport, Gibson, Harlow and a third passenger, Rob Sporrer, heard a woman scream as she ran toward a pickup truck. They followed the truck into Hawthorne, where Gibson called police.

The suspects, Melvin Chilcoat, 47, and Lydell Lawrence, 28, were arrested outside a fast-food restaurant, where they had stopped.

“If it wasn’t for the football players, we wouldn’t have caught them,” Quinones said of the suspects, who are accused of making several other robberies in the airport area. “It was just the right place at the right time.”

The alleged victims were Australian tourists, Quinones said.

Harlow said: “We knew that something was wrong.”

Harlow is a starting offensive tackle for the Trojans, and Gibson is a starting defensive guard. Both are seniors.

At a preliminary hearing last week, Chilcoat and Lawrence were held over for trial in superior court.