By John Howell Sr.

Batesville Police Chief Tony Jones renewed his plea Monday to business owners to call for police escort for night bank deposits after Taco Bell employees found themselves facing an armed robber early Saturday.

“We offer escort services; we’re here all the time,” the police chief said.

Shortly before 1:49 a.m. Saturday the victim was driven to the BanCorp South night depository at 178 Commerce Street by a co-worker. The driver told police he entered the bank’s drive-through area with his vehicle facing west to give his passenger easy access to the night deposit drawer.

The passenger-victim told Patrolman Jeremy Hailey that when she placed her key into the drawer a man, described as an African American wearing black jacket, ski mask and red shirt, pointed a pistol at her head, and said, “Give me the money,” according to the report.

The driver told Hailey that when he saw the black revolver pointing at his co-worker, “he took off as fast as he could,” the officer’s report states, so fast that “he ran over a tree on the edge of the parking lot when he was trying to get away.”

A third restaurant employee had pulled into the bank’s drive-through area about the same time and saw what was happening. She told police she immediately fled from the area. She told the officer that when “she looked back in her rearview mirror she saw the black male running after (the other employee’s) car.”

The driver and passenger fled to the Kangaroo Store further east on Highway 6 and waited for police.

An initial search by officers and a K-9 unit failed to locate the suspect. Detective Sergeant George Williford asks that anyone who might have seen activity in the vicinity of the Highway 6, Commerce Street and Country Club Road area around the time of the attempted robbery, or anyone who might have heard street talk about the incident to contact him at the Batesville Police Dept., 662-563-5653.

A reward is offered for information that leads to the would-be robber’s conviction. The name of the person who provides the information will be kept secret, the police chief said.

The attempted robbery Saturday at the night deposit drawer follows a similar robbery last June when an armed man stole the Sonic Restaurant deposit.

Sedrick Webb, whose address has been listed as 210 Van Voris St. and 110 Williams St., Batesville appeared in Batesville Municipal Court last week to face charges of the Oct. 29 armed robbery of Domino’s Restaurant.

He was bound over to await action of the Panola County Grand Jury. Bond was denied since he was already out on a felony bond from a June arrest for felony possession of a controlled substance.