Restaurant Diners Put Stop To Attempted Armed Robbery

Two patrons at a North Spokane restaurant squelched an armed robbery at the business.

Witnesses said a man walked into the Sue Hee Restaurant at 3525 N. Division at 5:45 p.m. on Feb. 3. The hostess started to show him to a table and he said he was robbing the place, said police spokesman Dick Cottam.

He displayed a kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade and tried to open the cash register. The hostess ran and the robber slammed the register to the floor in an attempt to open the drawer, he said.

A patron heard the crash and ran to the area. When he saw the man struggling with the register and displaying a knife, he and another male patron jumped the man. They took away the knife and held him until police arrived, Cottam said.

The suspect was identified as Richard D. Denbeigh, a transient. Denbeigh was booked into jail on a first-degree robbery charge. No one involved was injured.

Convenience stores robbed

Four city and county businesses were held up last week. At 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, a man walked into the 7-Eleven store at 924 E. Empire. He had a candy bar in his hand and went to the register, Cottam said.

When the clerk was at the register, the man implied he had a handgun and demanded money. He took some cash and ran from the store. The clerk told police it was the same man who had robbed the store a few days earlier, he said.

He was described as a white male between 40 and 45, 5-foot-1, 150 pounds with brown eyes and short hair.

Later, at 1:45 a.m. on Feb. 3, a man entered the Maid ‘O Clover at 2103 W. Northwest Blvd. He pointed a handgun at a clerk and demanded money. He took some cash and left the area on foot, Cottam said.

A K-9 tracked the robber a short distance but lost the trail.

He was described as a white male between 18 and 22, 5-foot-2-inch tall, thin, wearing a gray and white sweatshirt and black windbreaker.

Elsewhere, a white male entered the Jackpot Store at 3701 E. Francis about 2:15 a.m. on Jan. 31 and demanded cash from a female clerk, said sheriff’s spokesman Dave Reagan.

After stuffing an undisclosed number of bills down his pants, the robber left the store heading northwest. He was described as 5-foot-9, 160 pounds, about 35 with dark hair.

At 4:30 a.m., a white male described as “dirty and unkempt” robbed the Baskin and Robbins ice cream store at 9111 N. Country Homes Blvd, Reagan said.

He demanded cash from a female clerk and ran to the northwest, witnesses said. He was described as 35, 5-foot-4, 150 pounds with brown hair.

Police arrest men in stolen car

Spokane police arrested two males in a stolen Honda Accord early Saturday morning after they were chased by officers.

Police followed the car to Lincoln and Dakota, where it spun out of control and two males jumped out and ran. Officers caught a 17-year-old in a foot pursuit, Cottam said.

The other, identified, as 21-year-old Aleksandr A. Pronkin, was found by a police dog as he hid in a thick bush in the 7600 block of North Standard, he said.

Pronkin gave his address as 2123 W. Riverside. He and the 17-year-old were booked on charges of taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission and possession of stolen property.