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Sandra Yi ReportingCab Driver: "He told me not to do anything stupid. 'Don't turn me in, man. I'm telling you, don't turn me in or you're a dead man.'”
This man did not want to be identified. He was taken for a wild ride when a bank robbery suspect used his cab as a getaway car. It happened yesterday afternoon after the suspect allegedly robbed a bank.
Police say the suspect robbed a Zions Bank, then walked over to a shopping area to call a cab. It started as a typical pick-up.
Cab Driver: “He said he wants to go to the VA hospital.”
Then things took a strange turn.
Cab Driver: “He had a $100 bill. I said, 'OK, I don't have change for a $100 bill. We have to go and get change for you.”
They stopped at a US Bank. His passenger refused to go inside. So they went in the drive-through.
Cab Driver: "As he pulls out, he says, 'The plans has been changed. I want to go to Ogden'. And I said, 'Okay, even better fare for me in my pocket'."
But on the way up dispatch called with police on the line. They said his passenger was a wanted man. The driver tried to stay calm.
Cab Driver: "I asked him what was going on, and he said, 'It's just a domestic thing, don't worry about it'."
Turns out he was really wanted for robbing a bank.
Det. Kevin Joiner, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: “We had a guy walk in, hand a note to the teller, intimated that he had a gun, and was given some money and left.”
The cab was the getaway car.
Cab Driver: "And then I asked him if he had a gun. He said, 'Hell ya, I have a gun. Anything happens to me, I”m the first one who's going to shoot you.' That's when I got really scared.”
The driver pulled over on 24th Street in Ogden.
Cab Driver: "I told him, 'Take it easy. I don't know you, you don't know me. Mind your own business.' And he took off and started walking.”
But he didn't get far. Police quickly arrested the man -- 43-year old Donald Archambault.
The cab driver is grateful. This is one 'fare' he won't forget.
Cab Driver: “Ninety-nine dollars he stiffed me. Told me he was going to tip me $25 and he stiffed me $99, with my waiting time and everything else. It makes me very mad and makes me happy too, because I'm safe and I'm very lucky. I can make more money tomorrow.”
Police were on the suspect's trail because a witness saw him get in the cab. The suspect has been booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for aggravated robbery.
