February 18, 2012

Off-duty Calif. officer helps track down robbery suspects

Veteran cop Michael Nasser says he was ‘at the right place at the right time’

By Mark Gomez
San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Veteran cop Michael Nasser was on his way to the gym in South San Jose on Tuesday when he pulled into a bank parking lot and saw three men wearing dark-colored hooded sweatshirts sprint into a Wells Fargo bank.

Nasser, who left the San Jose Police Department last year amid layoff concerns and is in the process of being reinstated, knew instantly what was happening.

"We've got an armed robbery going down," Nasser recalls thinking.

Nasser followed the men as they left the bank and provided investigators with information that led to the arrest of three men from Monterey County who are suspected of committing two robberies this week in San Jose.

Police say two of the men were armed during the takeover-style robbery of the Wells Fargo at Santa Teresa Boulevard near Bernal Avenue. The men vaulted over the counters and made off with more than $7,000, according to San Jose police Sgt. Jason Dwyer.

Police also believe the men are responsible for an armed robbery Monday at a Union Bank on The Alameda.

Nasser, a 12-year veteran cop from New Orleans, pulled into the bank parking lot by chance to make a quick phone call. As Nasser sat in his car he saw three men run into the bank.

Nasser pulled out of the parking lot to circle the bank when he saw a woman pushing a baby stroller open the bank doors, pause and then scurry away.

"I didn't have a badge. I didn't have a gun," Nasser said. "Realistically, the only thing I could do was be a good witness. It was probably the best thing I could have done."

So Nasser followed the men. He dialed 911 and relayed the men's descriptions and a license plate to police dispatchers. He said he got a good look at the driver of the SUV.

About one hour later, Salinas police arrested Bryan Chavez, 20, of Marina, Jonathan Nathaniel Garcia, 23 and Jose Luis Lemus, 20 of Salinas after making a car stop. Police say they found money, guns and ski-masks in the vehicle, linking the men to the robberies.

Nasser drove to Salinas with San Jose robbery detectives and identified the SUV's driver.

Nasser said he left the San Jose Police Department in July and took a job as a Palo Alto police after receiving a layoff notice from the city. Nasser said his wife, a San Jose high school teacher, had been laid off in June at the end of the school year. The couple had a new baby, born eight weeks premature, and Nasser said he needed to make sure his family had insurance.

As it turns out, Nasser would have avoided layoffs.

He'll officially be back on patrol in San Jose beginning Sunday.

"I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time and any other cop in my position would have done the same thing," Nasser said.