Man with shorts on head tried to rob bank

A 43-year-old man was charged on Friday with trying to rob First State Bank on Stock Island, while wearing shorts on his head. The Sheriff's Office says Eli Escalera walked into the Maloney Avenue bank at 12:30 p.m. with the shorts on his head, not covering his face, and handed a teller a note that said: "Give me what are 20s and 50s."

The teller asked, "What do you want?" and Escalera said "never mind" and walked out. The bank manager called Sheriff's Office Detective Donald Catala and relayed descriptive information to him; Catala spread the word over police radios that the robber was a Hispanic man wearing a blue shirt and dark cargo pants. He has scars on his face.



Deputy Matt Dowling was near the bank when that went out over the radio. He looked down the nearby 5th Street and saw a man fitting Escalera's description who was taking off a pair of dark-coloured pants. When he saw Dowling, he jumped on his bike and fled. He was caught near 3rd Avenue and 5th Street.

The discarded clothing was taken as evidence and a witness to the attempted robbery later identified Escalera as the suspect. It wasn't clear whether police recovered the shorts, and why exactly he had them on his head.