Police say two men robbed a Bank of the West branch at 4501 East La Palma Avenue Hills on Friday afternoon, passing a note to a teller saying they had a gun. A customer who was standing in line was also robbed. A citizen who witnessed the robbery in progress called Anaheim police.
The suspects led police on a short chase, which ended about 10 minutes later when the suspects crashed their Honda Civic into a Kaiser Permanente Hospital at 4501 East La Palma.
The driver, identified as 57-year-old Richard Brieger of Corona, was killed on impact, police said. The passenger, identified as 49-year-old Arthur Taylor, was hospitalized in critical condition. On Sunday night, Taylor died from his injuries, according to police.
Police say Taylor had previously been sentenced to 248 months for a bank robbery. He was released into a halfway house in November, and then soon arrested and returned to prison for unknown reasons. He was released again on Jan. 6 and was supposed to return to the halfway house, but police say he disappeared, and his location was unknown until Friday.
According to police, Taylor had his prison release papers with him when he was found in the vehicle after the crash.
