Union construction workers at Portland Community College’s Southeast Center expansion project in Portland helped nab a bank robber Aug. 19.
Scott Adams, a member of Roofers Local 49, was the first man on the scene. The 25-year-old father of one is known as “The Kid” at Arrow Roofing & Sheet Metal, where he has worked since entering the trade as an apprentice six years ago.
It was just before 11 a.m. on a Monday morning when Adams and Brad Hanson, a member of the Carpenters Union, saw a man running through the jobsite located at Southeast 82nd Avenue off Division Street.
“He had red paint all over his hands. At first I thought he was a painter,” Adams told the Labor Press. “But he wasn’t wearing a hard hat and he wasn’t in work clothes or wearing work boots.”
Suddenly, another worker yelled out that the man had just robbed a bank.
Adams and Hanson took off after him. Adams got to him first.
The suspect, who was larger than Adams, turned and squared off. “He said he had nothing to lose, and that I should turn around and walk away or he would fight,” Adams said. “He didn’t say he would shoot me, or stab me, so I figured he wasn’t armed.”
The suspect threw an errant punch at Adams, who countered with a left that knocked the robber to the ground.
Hanson, who works for Fred Shearer & Sons, Inc., then jumped on the man and held his arm behind his back. He described the hold to the Oregonian newspaper as a “chicken-wing.”
Adams said a couple more construction workers showed up to hold the suspected robber until police arrived and took him into custody.
According to news reports, 44-year-old Frazer Scott Piccolo took a cab to Bank of the West at 8135 SE Division St. and gave a teller a demand note for money. He then got back inside the cab, and a dye packet in the stolen money exploded, leaving red paint all over his hands. He fled from the cab in to the construction site.
Adams said that after being interviewed by police, all the men returned to work, clocking out at their normal quitting time.
[…] Get the full story on NWLaborPress.org here. […]
As a former robbery/homicide detective with a local Sheriff’s office I applaud this individual and his truly heroic actions. Not many people would do that and in fact I had been in a fight for my life with people all around. I yelled for help and no one would come to my aid. I really appreciate people like this and with I could pin one of my many medals on his chest. Congratulation to a true hero
I’m the bank robber, Frazer Piccolo, and that was a bad day, but it turned out the be one of the most important days of my life! You see I went to prison and studied the Word of God and applied it to my life. It is now May, 19 , 2021 and I have been out of prison almost 3 years now. My life has totally been changed and I have not missed one day since that day in Aug 2013, in reading God the Word of God! All praise be to God!