Police show up at Encino IndyMac branch as waiting customers clash
People in line seeking to withdraw their money are told to remain calm or face arrest. A disruption reportedly occurs when some try to cut in line outside the failed institution.
Los Angeles police were dispatched to an IndyMac branch in Encino this morning when customers waiting to withdraw money became agitated after several people tried to cut in line on the second day of the failed institution's federal takeover.
Police told customers to remain calm or face arrest as they tried to withdraw their money.
Three police units were dispatched shortly after 8 a.m. amid reports of a disruption outside the branch in the 17050 block of Ventura Boulevard, said LAPD spokeswoman April Harding.
Harding said that as many as 80 people were waiting outside the bank when several people tried to cut in line, apparently upset that they had been issued numbers Monday that were not honored, Harding said.
Order was quickly restored and private security guards stood watch over the line, with police acting as backup. As a precaution, the LAPD sent a squad car to another IndyMac branch in Northridge, although no incidents were reported there, Harding said.
Federal regulators seized Pasadena-based IndyMac on Friday and reopened the bank Monday under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Deposits to $100,000 are fully insured by the FDIC.
Worried customers with deposits in excess of insured limits flooded IndyMac Bank branches on Monday, demanding to withdraw as much money as they could or get answers about the fate of their funds.
When it was clear some wouldn't get in before closing, FDIC employees apparently took down names and told them to return today.
Other customers began lining up at 1:30 a.m. today, and by dawn tensions escalated because people on the list were getting priority.
By 8 a.m., about 50 people on the list waited in one line and many more waited in another. Five people were allowed in at a time.
