Iowa authorities are asking for your help to find two highway robbery suspects.
According to the Lyon County Sheriff's Department at about 1:30 Monday morning a man was driving east on A-18 outside of Larchwood, when he stopped to help a woman with her hazard lights on.
Officers say then another man jumped out and demanded the victim's wallet. They say the male suspect then took the victim's debit card and drove away with the woman.
Officers say they are driving a red, Ford SUV with paper license plates in the window. According to the victim they could be armed. He told officers he thought they had a weapon, but didn't see one. If you see this car please call the Lyon County Sheriff's Department at 712-472-8300.
We spoke with the Lyon County Chief Deputy Monday. He says this is just a reminder to the good Samaritans out there, you should put your safety first: don't stop.
And we decided to put some Iowa drivers to the test on this.
Larry Poss is from Larchwood, Iowa. He says whenever he sees someone stopped on the side of the road, he stops to help. Larry says, "ask them what they need and what we can do to help. That's what we do in the Midwest."
But after Monday morning's reported highway robbery, the Lyon County Chief Deputy is discouraging that good Samaritan behavior. Chief Deputy Stewart Vander Stoep says you can help without stopping. He says, "I would strongly recommend that you call the local sheriff's department."
Vander Stoep says if you must stop, call the authorities regardless, pull over, roll down your window slightly and ask if those parked need help. He says you should also be aware of your surroundings...if anything feels wrong, get out of there. Vander Stoep says the robbery victim was not hurt and he was lucky, the chief deputy says putting yourself in that situation is dangerous in many ways. He says, "this could've gone wrong really quick, where the victim could've been injured or even killed."
So we wanted to see if drivers would pull over for our KSFY car stopped with its hazard lights on...we tried for quite sometime to flag someone down.
After being parked out on the county road with our hazard lights on for about 20 minutes, we tried to flag down several vehicles and not a single one stopped to find out if we needed help. We don't know for sure if drivers were just avoiding an interview, or if they were being wary. but chief deputy Vander Stoep says they all had the right idea.
Vander Stoep says, "I know it's in our human nature to stop and 20 years ago it would've been okay to stop, but times have changed."
But Larry Poss says, it's a shame people would even think to take advantage of others' kindness. He says, "that's terrible. I hope they find the person and prosecute them."
We also asked Deputy Chief Vander Stoep if he thinks this robbery is related to Grandfalls Casino in Larchwood. He tells us there's no reason to think that, saying the department hasn't had much trouble with crimes like this related to the new casino.
