2 steal cash from ice cream truck

By LEANORA MINAI

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 29, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- An ice cream truck was robbed Thursday by two men who flagged down the driver for a Big Dipper bar.

Driver Kirk Myers, 27, was at the end of his route at 9 p.m. when he pulled over for the men at Second Avenue S and 23rd Street.

"I only got a dollar," one of the men told Myers, said Officer Dan Bates, police spokesman. "Let me get a deal."

Myers said he could not offer a deal and turned his back, reaching into a freezer for the $1.25 ice cream. When Myers turned back to the service window, the customer was pointing a black gun at him.

No one was hurt, but the thieves got away with cash, some from the freezer and some from Myers' fanny pack.

After Myers pulled the green and orange truck over, the men asked for his fanny pack and then demanded money from the freezer, police said.

"I was a little nervous, but I stayed calm," Myers said. "I just gave them the money."

Myers, a former delivery man for Sears, has been on the ice cream beat for two weeks.

"Next time I go in that area, I'll be out of there before dark," he said.

Myers said his ice cream truck was burglarized Tuesday at a gas station on Central Avenue and 16th Street. Money and ice cream were taken, but the incident was not reported to police.

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