Your Money or Your Breath - Oxygen Robber Gets Nothing For His Efforts, Then Dies

Oxygen-carrying robber who fled NY dies in Md. crash

Jul 16 2010


NEW YORK — Authorities say a man who robbed a New York City store while attached to an oxygen tank has died in a car accident in Maryland.

Police say the man, identified as 60/70-year-old Arthur Williams, of Gadsden, Ala., walked into a Turkish men's wear store in Manhattan last Friday with a cane and breathing through a tube connected to the tank. Police say he fired three shots after demanding money, but fled empty-handed. No one was injured.

Officials say Williams made his way to Maryland where he robbed two hotels early Sunday.

A description of the robber went over police airwaves and a state trooper, who was following a drunken driver, realized he was pursuing the robber when he caught sight of a large, white oxygen tank, standing next to the driver. The trooper decided it was too risky to shoot because of a possible explosion and decided to allow the driver to kill himself.

After a 2 1/2-mile chase, authorities say the robber ran off the road and crashed into a parked car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The oxygen tank was recovered intact and was half full. "He could have driven another 200 miles without an oxygen refill," said a Maryland police spokesman who was not authorized to speak.

Authorities plan to auction off the man's corpse to a regional hospital, to be used to train forensic pathologists.

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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com