[url=]http://www.syracuse.com/news/syrnewspapers/index.ssf?/newsstories/20020219_ankuyk.html[/url]
Note that he had his child and girlfriend in the car [V]
Rescuer or reckless, he tells why he chased
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
By Chris Iven
The bullet sliced through Bill Kuykendall's windshield, fingers and steering wheel and slammed into his chest before he heard the sound of the rifle that shot it.
"All of a sudden, I heard the glass break, and then I heard the shot," Kuykendall said. "I didn't have time to react."
Kuykendall, 22, of Hannibal, came within inches of death Wednesday afternoon, shot by a man who had just robbed the Community Bank in Hannibal at gunpoint, Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd said. Kuykendall, with his girlfriend and their 3-month-old son in the car, had been chasing the getaway car.
Todd and many others have called him a hero. Some have called him reckless, Kuykendall said in an interview Monday.
Kuykendall said he's not sure who's right - but he might have acted differently if he had realized the bank robber had a rifle.
"I didn't know it was a gun until I came up over the hill and he was aiming it at me," Kuykendall said. "I didn't know it was a gun until my fingers were gone."
When Kuykendall and his girlfriend, Erica Cook, left their
house Wednesday afternoon, they had planned to leave their son, Seth, with Kuykendall's mother in Parish and then spend the day together. Kuykendall, who had just started a job as a janitor less than a week before, had the day off.
As they reached Hannibal's village center about 1:30 p.m., Kuykendall saw a man wearing a black ski mask heading into Community Bank. The man appeared to be carrying bags and some kind of bat, Kuykendall said.
Deputies say the bags were pillow cases, soon to be filled with cash; the weapon a high-powered rifle with a telescopic sight. The gunman was Robert Ferens, deputies said, while Michael P. Earl drove the getaway car.
Within four hours, police had arrested Ferens and Earl, both 19, at their home, 160 W. First St., Fulton. Each was charged with robbery and attempted murder, both felonies.
When Kuykendall realized he was watching a bank robbery, he parked his blue Ford Thunderbird in the parking lot across the street.