A Wauwatosa police officer might have inadvertently halted a bank robbery last Friday just by driving through a parking lot at the right time.

Tri City Bank tellers inside the Pick ‘n Save store at 1717 N. Mayfair Rd. had been watching a suspicious character for 25 minutes, certain that he must have been casing the bank for a robbery.

The man, dressed in all black clothing and wearing a black baseball cap and sunglasses, had been idling all that time in the supermarket’s produce section, which is in front of the bank counter.

Tellers said he kept looking their way while not appearing to be doing any real shopping. He did finally pick up a couple of items and put them in a hand basket, but suddenly put the basket down and hurried out of the store.

A second man entered a moment later, similarly dressed, and appeared to be looking for the first, then he too hurried out.

It was later determined from officer’s logs and recollections that a marked Wauwatosa police car had driven past the front windows of the store at just that time, on unrelated business.

The two men were also seen outside together and left in a dark-colored older model Cadillac Seville.

On Saturday, Wauwatosa police learned that two men exactly matching the descriptions the tellers had given, and driving a maroon 1997 Seville, had been arrested in St. Francis for theft. Both had lengthy police records and one was on probation.