Friday, Nov. 13, was an unlucky day for two suspected bank robbers.

Their escape was thwarted by Jim Foster and Mike Edwards, two mild-mannered businessmen who aren’t usually involved in catching suspected thieves.

Last Friday, on their way to lunch in the Gold River area of Rancho Cordova, Foster and Edwards, who also happen to serve on the Loomis Union School District board of trustees, helped authorities in the capture of the suspected bank robbers.

Edwards, of Loomis, said he and Foster, of Penryn, were on their way to a lunch meeting at Chevy’s to discuss school board business.

“As we got out of the car … there were all these people running out of Chase Bank where we parked,” Edwards said.

Half jokingly, Foster said, he asked two women running from the bank, “What’s going on, a bank robbery?

“From the look on their face, I could tell they were terrified.”

The women responded that, yes, there was a robbery.

Foster and Edwards said as they looked for a safe place to escape, they

noticed a Sacramento County police car pull into the parking lot.

“I ran to police officer and said, ‘There’s a bank robbery in progress …

Look at all those people running out,” Foster recounted.

As the officer got back into her car, to apparently radio for assistance,

Foster and Edwards said they noticed a man walking directly away from the bank.

“He looked different, largely because he was wearing too many clothes for how warm it was,” Edwards said.

Foster noticed the man was also wearing a beanie cap.

Again, Foster rapped on the police car, telling the officer, “That’s the

bank robber right there, go get him.”

Foster said as the officer chased after the suspect, the suspect appeared to take off and toss his jacket or beanie.

After a few minutes, the officer returned, Foster said, got in her car and told Foster and Edwards that the suspect had taken off in a car and that another officer was in pursuit.

Foster and Edwards said they decided to continue with their meeting. After lunch, they told officers on the scene about the suspect tossing clothing.

“They eventually found a beanie cap in the bushes,” Foster said.

What Foster and Edwards did not realize is that there actually two suspected bank robbers.

In a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department news release, Sergeant Tim Curran, a sheriff’s spokesman, said a deputy was waved down by a citizen and told the bank was being robbed.

Curran said one suspect, identified as Jason Brown,

age 27, was quickly taken into custody. The second suspect fled on foot through the neighborhood in Gold River, Curran said. A sheriff’s deputy and his K-9 partner tracked the second suspect to a home that the suspect had entered and where he threatened the homeowner.

The suspect did not harm the homeowner and attempted to flee when he was spotted by deputies. The suspect, identified as Timothy Morris, 38, was taken into custody outside the home without further incident.

According to Curran, investigators recovered money and other items of

evidence taken in the bank robbery. The men face possible charges of

robbery, burglary and false imprisonment, authorities said.

Both Foster and Edwards said they didn’t hesitate to get involved.

“If someone hadn’t gone after that man, right that second, he might have gotten away,” Edwards said.

Foster said it was a natural response to the situation. “It seemed like the right thing to do," he said.