7/31/2023 0 Comments Ralph valletta robbery![]() Reading Metro Taxi President Curt Stricker said he was just glad Valletta was not hurt. I have bills to pay and I have calls to take.' To see someone that's just out there trying to work hard to make and to be victimized like that, my concern was all for him." "I told him, 'You need to go back to your station and get a cup of coffee and go home,'" Ely said. "He immediately stood up, ran over to me and gave me a hug and said, 'Thank you. ![]() Valletta can be heard on the video telling Ely he is a lifesaver. "At that point, I heard the driver say, 'Just please don't shoot me.'"Įly then drew his weapon and ordered the robber, later identified as Victor Martinez-Herrer, out of the cab. ![]() "I stood in the back to try and hear the conversation ahead of time so knew what I was getting myself into," Ely said. "At that point, I just wanted to make sure everything was OK in the car."Įly turned on his police lights and got out of his car. "The car did not move, and it went back to red again," Ely said. Panicked, Valletta handed the robber all the money he had: $11.ĭeputy Terry Ely said he noticed something may have been wrong when the traffic light cycled from red to green to red again. He had his hoodie pulled down and I couldn't see anything but his eyes." "I need it all right now if you don't want to die." Valletta, who returned to work that same evening after the terrifying ordeal, could not thank the officer enough and reportedly gave him a hug in the middle of the intersection after the man who just had a gun to his head was in custody.The scary moment was caught on surveillance video in Valletta's Reading Metro cab.Īccording to Valleta, the robber said, "Give me all your money, man," pointing a gun at Valletta's head. Martinez-Herrera was arrested and charged with robbery, terroristic threats and a weapons offense. As it turned out, the gun wasn’t exactly real – a pellet gun – but the crime he just committed was. “I immediately bent down and pulled my firearm out because I noticed he had a hood over his face when he looked over at me.”Įly quickly apprehended Martinez-Herrera, who was pleading with the officer, informing him that the gun wasn’t real. “Right when I hit the door, I heard the driver say, ‘Please don’t shoot me,’ and ‘He has a gun to my head,’” Ely recalled. Moments later, Ely approached the vehicle, walking slowly to assess the situation. “It was like a vision of God when I saw those lights,” Valletta said. “The commotion was still going on, so I made it a point to put on my emergency lights.”Īs Valletta was still retrieving his wallet and cell phone, he noticed the flashing lights in the rearview mirror. “It sounded like people talking loud or some kind of an argument coming from inside of the cab, but sometimes you just blow those things off,” Ely later said. Berks County Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Ely said he first suspected something was wrong after the cab sat at the light as it turned green and cycled through again. Meanwhile, what Martinez-Herrera failed to notice was the patrol car that pulled up behind the taxi. The suspect, who was later identified as 18-year-old Victor Martinez-Herrera, was unsatisfied with Valletta’s response and demanded his wallet and cell phone, in addition to the $11. Video footage from inside the cab captured the terrified driver, Ralph Valletta, explaining to the robber he just started his work day and all he had was $11 in cash. The robbery occurred after the cab stopped at a red light. An attempted robbery of a taxi cab driver in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Monday afternoon didn’t quite turn out as planned after a police officer happened to roll up in the middle of the robbery.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |