Wednesday, March 16, 2005
BY THERESA D. Mcclellan
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESSGRAND RAPIDS -- Hours before he allegedly entered a local bank with a toy gun, tears fell from Lamont Davenport's face as he listened to his 2-year-old son cry for something to eat from the empty cupboards of his family's Southwest Side home.
In the 13 years she has known him, 40-year-old Ilyse Davenport had never seen her 28-year-old husband cry. She said she watched him grow frustrated in the weeks before the March 2 robbery as bill collectors called daily, threatening to cut off utilities to their Campau Commons apartment.
She said he despaired as his biweekly checks from sporadic work as a security guard were not enough to cover food and expenses for the couple and their three children.
"I told him we had a few cans of food. I could stretch it till he got paid in two weeks. But hearing Jacob cry was too much for him," said his wife. "He cried when he said, 'I can't even get bread for my babies.' "
Grand Rapids police say Lamont Davenport robbed the Bank One branch at 2430 Eastern Ave. SE and was quickly apprehended when he crashed his car into a snowbank. But when officers quizzed him about his motive, Davenport told Detective Jim Jorgensen something the 15-year veteran had not heard before -- he said he stole to get food for his family.
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