From left, Cornell Police Sgt. Robert MacHenry and Lt. Michael Blenman are congratulated by President Hunter Rawlings for their high-speed arrest of a bank robbery suspect. Robert Barker/University Photography
President Hunter Rawlings made a special appearance at Cornell Police headquarters Oct. 6 to praise the work of two officers and Cornell Police in general for their brilliant, almost textbook, arrest of an armed bank robbery suspect recently.
Lt. Michael Blenman and Sgt. Robert MacHenry, both 17-year veterans of Cornell Police, received personal recognition and congratulations from Rawlings for their "combination of intelligence and prudent use of force" in apprehending the man a half hour after he allegedly robbed a bank on Pine Tree Road near East Hill Plaza in Ithaca.
"On behalf of my office and the Cornell community at large, I just want to say how pleased we are with the high degree of professionalism these officers displayed under very difficult and rather extraordinary circumstances," said Rawlings, speaking to about two dozen members of the police staff. "It was a quick and remarkable action that goes well above and beyond the call of duty."
The president stated that the coordinated efforts of Cornell Police with city, town and county law enforcement agencies "was a splendid example of police work" at all levels "conducted with great speed, efficiency and professionalism."
Blenman and MacHenry were at the Ithaca police firing range off Route 79 on Friday, Sept. 29, honing skills they hope never to use in the line of duty, when a 911 call alerted the Tompkins County Sheriff's Department that an armed robbery had just occurred at the HSBC Bank on Pine Tree Road. Sheriff's deputies and Cornell and Ithaca police radioed a description of the suspect and the car he was driving.
Blenman and MacHenry hopped in a squad car and were traveling westbound on Route 79 when they spotted an oncoming vehicle matching the description. They turned around, pursued and stopped the suspect's car about three-quarters of a mile east of Burns Road.
"We were on Route 79 for about 10 to 15 seconds when we saw him coming eastbound," Blenman said. "We tried to perform a felony stop, but he wouldn't turn the engine off."
Blenman and MacHenry addressed the driver with their car-mounted loudspeaker, ordering him to cut his engine, but instead, the suspect's car sped off east, accelerating to speeds of more than 100 mph, police reported. The Cornell officers pursued the suspect at a "safe distance," Blenman said, for about seven miles until the suspect lost control and drove his car into a ditch at the intersection of Hurd and Midline roads in Dryden. He then fled on foot, uphill, until he surrendered to Blenman, who took him into custody.
The suspect, David A. Sipe, 28, of Charlotte, N.C., was charged with first degree robbery, and investigators recovered items including $6,000 in cash and a loaded .38-caliber revolver from his car.
Blenman credited Cornell police dispatcher Douglas S. Burt with providing "timely and accurate information."
"The foundation of good police work starts behind the scenes," said Blenman. "The telecommunicators are the backbone for anything we do on the road."
Cornell Police Director William G. Boice also praised Burt's levelheaded work on the airwaves that morning.
"He relayed all the details with a cool and calm precision, as if he were describing plans for a family picnic," Boice said.
Rawlings ended his formal remarks with a personal comment, saying that both officers are familiar faces on the campus beat and it is "always a pleasure to see them and to greet them."
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