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Geneva football players tackle bank robbery suspect
BEAVER FALLS - Two Geneva College football players helped thwart a Beaver Falls bank robbery Friday using techniques they learned in practice.
"I was just doing what I thought was right,” said Luke Shuster, 21, of Monaca.
Shuster and Chad Sedlacek, 19, of Monaca, were waiting in a car, and Jim Raley, 22, of New Waterford, Ohio, was walking toward the National City Bank branch on Ninth Avenue to cash a paycheck when they saw a dozen people scattering out the front door screaming about the place being robbed—for the second time in three months.
Shortly after, the three men, all landscapers at McCready’s Lawn Care in Monaca, watched a man run outside, his pockets stuffed with cash.
Raley pursued and Shuster followed. Sedlacek stayed at the car.
The robbery suspect tossed the money over a fence before Ralley and Shuster tackled him in the 2300 block of Ninth Avenue. Raley, a defensive end for Geneva, and Shuster, who plays center, sat on the suspect until police arrived.
Beaver Falls police have filed charges against David A. Staats Jr., 21, of Freedom, who they said walked into the bank branch around 12:30 p.m., jumped over the teller’s counter with a knife and demanded money.
Staats was arraigned on charges of robbery, theft, and receiving stolen property. Bond information was not available. Police were discussing the incident with local FBI agents.
Shuster and Raley, who weigh a combined 480 pounds, said they reacted on instinct and that Staats wasn’t too big of a guy to handle. They told their boss, Shawn McCreary, a Monaca football coach, what had happened and went right back to trimming shrubs.
“It wasn’t right, what he was doing, and I didn’t want anybody getting hurt,” Shuster said. “It’s one of those things where you can’t really say what you’d do in that situation until it happens.”
Geneva football coach Geno DeMarco along with other college officials congratulated the two Friday evening.
“I’m just shocked Shuster actually tackled someone. I can see Raley sitting on someone, but Luke in an open alley?” Demarco joked.
“Obviously we’re proud of them,” he added. “They saw a situation, they reacted and thankfully they’re safe.”