Rbu Henry-Bey of Apple Valley had been in prisons for much of his adult life before he used a hot-glue gun to hold up a Walgreens store, authorities said, perhaps to pull together money for a fine that was due on Monday.
On Sunday, the 54-year-old died when his vehicle crashed as he fled police in Scott County, minutes after robbing the 24-hour drugstore of about $1,400, police said Monday.
Police didn't pinpoint a motive, but a search of court records shows that Henry-Bey needed to pay $195 in fines in a petty theft case by Monday -- and that he was out of jail on $10,000 bail for yet another case.
Savage police Sgt. Mike Schiltz said Henry-Bey hadn't asked for drugs when he held up employees of Walgreens on Eagan Drive in Savage on Sunday. Schiltz acknowledged that Henry-Bey may have been trying to come up with cash to pay his fine. Police recovered the $1,400 from his crushed car.
Henry-Bey's wife did not return a reporter's calls Monday. He was also known as Robert Thomas Henry and had children. A neighbor, Nathan Quast, described Henry-Bey as a "good guy, a great human being. He wasn't a horrible person."
Henry-Bey's long criminal history in the metro area includes 1979 convictions for kidnapping and aggravated robbery in Hennepin County.
About 8:30 a.m. Sunday, police said, he held up the pharmacy at Eagan Drive and Hwy. 13. Two Savage police officers confronted him in the parking lot, but Henry-Bey sped south on Hwy. 13 at up to 100 miles per hour, Schiltz said. The Savage officers dropped back as Prior Lake officers set up stop sticks.
Henry-Bey was still a good half-mile away and could not have seen the stop sticks or the Prior Lake squad cars when he crashed, Schiltz said. The car flipped and was so crushed that police could not see inside it. Henry-Bey was dead at the scene.
