State Senator on Chasing Bank Robber: 'You do what needs to be done.'

ROCKY HILL/WETHERSFIELD, CT - State Sen. Paul Doyle chuckled at the question and then admitted he needed to answer it.

So, would you chase the bank robber again if you had to do it all over?

"Well, my wife wasn't happy with what I did, but I guess I would," he said in an interview with Patch on Friday. "It was all instinct. It was adrenaline," he said. "You do what needs to be done."

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It was Nov. 19, and Doyle, a Democratic senator who lives in Wethersfield and practices law in Rocky Hill, was at a Rocky Hill Webster Bank Branch, when a lot of commotion started.

The bank was being robbed.

The bandit make a break for it with a whole bunch of money and Doyle, an avid runner, just chased him. The chase took a a sudden, strange turn a few minutes later when the Massachusetts man flung the money.

"He threw it into the air, and it was just raining money," Doyle said. "I had to stop and try to pick it up."

He paused and though about the scene.

"That was the best thing about it," he said. "We were able to recover the money."

Police were able to recover the thief too.

Christopher Lunn, 32, of Massachusetts, now has two sets of second-degree robbery and fifth-degree larceny charges on his record and the state judicial system slate shows him scheduled to appear in court on July 10, eight months to the day Doyle chased him outside the bank.

Lunn had been serving time on drug charges in Massachusetts and was extradited to Rocky Hill about a month ago when his sentence in Massachusetts was up, Police said. Lunn is being held on collective bonds totaling $50,000, according to court records.

Rocky Hill police said, though they commend Doyle for "defending his community," residents should use caution and "know who they are chasing" when confronting criminals who might be armed.

"Some people have told me it could have been foolish, but sometimes you do what needs to be done," Doyle said. "So yes, I probably would do it again. It was the right thing to do."

Photo Credit: Sen. Doyle photo courtesy of the Senate Democrats.