Evolution Surrenders!

This was going to be either one of the greatest criminal plans ever hatched, or just another dumb episode that landed somewon a Darwin Award. Guess which happened?:

A bicyclist suspected of robbing a Great Falls casino at gunpoint early Tuesday died minutes after the holdup when a squad car responding to the scene struck him.

That always throws a wrench into the works.

Robert Lawrence Thrash, 39, was pedaling west out of 7th Alley North around 12:54 a.m. when he collided with a police car driven north on 9th Street North. Officer Michael Badgley was driving: He and three other Great Falls squad cars were responding to a call three minutes earlier from Nickel Nats casino, 1425 8th Ave. N.
Thrash of Great Falls, was pronounced dead at the scene.

I'm guessing he was day dreaming about how he was going to be spending the booty.

Because a law enforcement officer was involved in the fatality, and to ensure objectivity, the Montana Highway Patrol and the Lewis and Clark County Coroner are investigating, said Great Falls police Lieutenant Jere Carpenter. While an autopsy is scheduled for today at the State Crime Lab in Missoula, Lewis and Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson said a preliminary diagnosis is that Thrash died of blunt force trauma.

You have to get a degree to know these things.

Police linked Thrash to the robbery after discovering cash on his body in the same amount stolen from the casino, which is just blocks away. They also recovered a weapon discarded between the casino and the crash scene that matches the description witnesses gave police. "It's truly a tragedy for Great Falls," Carpenter said. "The officer is obviously shook up." Carpenter also expressed deep sympathies to the victim's family.

Read the rest of the story here.

Further reading shows the streets were full of ice and snow. The cop probably was just not able to stop. Something all you would be robbers should take note of is that bicycles on icy streets do not make good get away vehicles.