Police capture two bank robbery suspects after morning heist in Santa Rosa

<p>Two men suspected in a Wednesday morning bank robbery in Santa Rosa's Bennett Valley area were arrested with the help of observant witnesses, including a civilian with a police scanner in his vehicle who heard authorities describe an escaping car.</p><p>But the robbers of the Exchange Bank on Yulupa Avenue near Bethards Drive did little to mask their initial flight — throwing cash from a window of their getaway van, apparently after a dye-pack exploded and covered it with ink, police said.</p><p>The van was tracked to a Jack in the Box restaurant parking lot on Hoen Frontage Road, where one suspect was spotted walking away and apprehended, Bair said.</p><p>The other apparently lingered in the area, surrounded by law enforcement officers on watch. He eventually was spotted running through a parking lot at the nearby Orenda Center, where he was seen getting into an older model Ford Focus, police said.</p><p>Authorities were on their radios exchanging a description of the car when the civilian on northbound Highway 101 decided the vehicle in front of him might be the one authorities were seeking, Bair said.</p><p>He called police with the license plate, which authorities traced to a Stellar Lane address on Windsor's west side.</p><p>Police converged on the car and arrested its male passenger, as well as its female driver in Windsor, Bair said.</p><p>None of the suspect's names was immediately available.</p>