Firefighters Free Bound Pennsylvania Woman Who Dialed 911 With Her Toe

June 1, 2004
She was freed after firefighters and paramedics got through a locked security door.
WILKINSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The manager of a check-cashing store was bound and gagged by an armed robber but managed to free one of her legs and dial 911 - using her toe.

The woman, whom police did not identify, was unlocking the doors to an ACE America's Cash Express office in suburban Pittsburgh on Monday morning when a man put a gun in her armpit and forced her into the store, Wilkinsburg police Lt. Todd Ruggiero said.

The man ordered her to open the safe and then led her to a back office, where he tied her up with phone cords and other items and gagged her with a scarf, Ruggiero said.

About an hour after the robbery, the woman managed to free one leg, somehow grabbed a telephone with her feet and used her toe to dial 911, police said.

She was freed after firefighters and paramedics got through a locked security door.

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