Bank robbery replay.(The Goodness Of America)

Andrew Green, a landscaper in Fort Pierce, Florida, has been a customer of the Riverside National Bank in nearby Jensen Beach for about seven years. On June 2nd, he was in the bank when a man demanded money from a teller and then fled with a substantial amount of cash. The bank was quickly shut down, and Green was constrained to remain inside with the other customers while authorities launched their investigation of the robbery.

For weeks thereafter, Green wondered if there was something he could have done to thwart the robbery. On July 26th, he had another chance to find out.

At around 11:30 a.m., while he was waiting in line to deposit a check, a teller suddenly screamed, "He robbed us!" She was referring to the man, later identified as Thomas Poisal, standing in line ahead of Green. Poisal had said he was armed and had ordered the teller to give him money, though investigators subsequently determined that he was unarmed. The teller handed over a stack of $20 bills that Poisal stuffed into a front pocket before casually walking out of the bank. Not until the teller screamed did Green and the other customers realize what had happened.

As bank employees began locking down the building, Green bolted outside. "This time, I didn't want to get locked in," he recalled for the next day's Palm Beach Post. He saw Poisal meandering across the bank's parking lot and began trailing him. "At first I just wanted to follow him, so I could identify him to the police," Green told the July 27th Fort Pierce Tribune. "He was walking across the parking lot so nonchalantly and was changing his clothes as he ...