Police Lineup Used Toddlers to Identify Suspect in Bank Heist
Tom Smith, bank manager at The Big Bank of Wellington in Wellington, Arkansas, accused a toddler of orchestrating a bank robbery on Tuesday. Mr. Smith claims that the toddler pulled a gun on one of his bank tellers, calmly demanded the cash in the drawer, and asked the teller to call the bank manager over. Two armed accomplices inside the bank stood watch as the toddler managed the bank employees. When Mr. Smith arrived at the teller's counter, the toddler shoved the gun in his face and ordered him to open the vault. One of the accomplices then took Mr. Smith to the vault to collect the cash there. The entire robbery took less than four minutes, and the suspects were last seen getting into car outside the bank and fleeing, the toddler struggling with a large bag of cash and the gun. The Wellington police apprehended the older suspects later in the day. Several toddlers matching the description provided by the bank employees were picked up, but all had solid alibis. Two days after the robbery, another toddler suspect was found smoking a cigarette outside The Lonely Kitty, an infamous strip club on the South side. Gerald James “Shorty” McGill, a little person with dwarfism, was taken into custody on suspicion of leading the robbery at the bank. In an unprecedented move, a police lineup was used. Seven toddlers from the city were placed into the lineup with Mr. McGill. The bank manager could not positively identify any of the members of the lineup as the toddler from the robbery. Mr. Gill and the toddlers were released. Several toddlers complained that Mr. McGill was “stinky”, they were hungry, and threw fits about not being able to watch videos on the officer's phone. Detectives are reviewing the surveillance video for more clues.