Gateway bank robber’s getaway plan foiled by citizen, police

Exclusive! Find out which bank was hit – again. And, see why it makes folks wonder if the branch’s proximity to the Gateway Transit Center is what makes it a target …

Portland Police Bureau East Precinct district officers and robbery detectives converge on the Gateway KeyBank branch after it was robbed once again.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
The drive-through was open at the Gateway KeyBank branch on March 30, but – once again – the walk-in portion was locked down most of the afternoon and evening, after what appears to be another bank robbery.

“I was going to take care of some business inside the bank,” Melinda Brewer told East Portland News, as she stood outside the locked doors of the branch on NE 102^nd Avenue in the Fred Meyer Shopping Center lot.

“But when I came, police were all over here. It looked like they had a guy in the back of a [patrol] car in the rear parking lot – and he looked none too happy,” Brewer said. “This isn’t first time – I think [bank robbers] come here because they think they can get away on MAX or a bus.”

Mid-afternoon emergency radio dispatches drew Portland Police Bureau East Precinct district officers to the area to start tracking a suspected bank robber, at a little before 3:00 p.m.

Inside the branch, bank officials talk with police and detectives, after the robbery.

“From initial reports,” said Portland Police Bureau Public Information Officer Lt. Robert King, “We were told the suspect was a white male, wearing a black stocking cap, a multi-colored scarf, dark pants, and a green/black zipped coat, and was wearing sunglasses.”

Further information reported that the man for which they were looking was that he was under 6’ tall and was heavyset.

From some accounts, a male suspect took off west, toward the Gateway Transit Center, then cut north, toward NE Halsey Street.

Officers got a break when a citizen flagged down officers, reporting a suspicious man hiding behind a bush at the Providence Gateway Medical Center.

“It appears he was arrested near the freeway,” King reported.

Officials say that this man, 60-year-old Douglas Lynn Handy, was arrested after running from the Gateway KeyBank branch. MCDC image

It was 60-year-old Douglas Lynn Handy that officers detained in connection with the robbery, King said.

MCDC records show that Handy remains in custody at the Multnomah County Inverness Jail, held without bail on a Class A Felony: Delivery of Heroin. King explained that, because bank robbery is a federal crime, it may take some time for Handy to also be charged with the robbery.

The drive-through remained open after the robbery – but anyone with business to transact inside the branch was turned away.

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