Henry K. Lee

Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

 San Jose Polce Department

(04-14) 11:12 PDT SAN JOSE -- Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Kim Komenich has seen his share of crime and violence while capturing breaking news from behind his camera.

Komenich, a former Chronicle photojournalist who now teaches new media at San Jose State University, can now add crime fighter to his list of accomplishments.

On Monday, as Komenich was at a Wells Fargo Bank in downtown San Jose, he saw a teller being robbed and the suspect reaching for his pockets. Komenich walked up behind the suspect and held him in a bear hug until police arrived.

"Between classes, I go out there and do what I can do to make the world a little better for people," Komenich, 53, of Mill Valley quipped this morning.

It all started about 3:30 p.m. Monday when Komenich was in line at the bank on South Market Street. He saw a man, whom police later identified as Victor Anthony Fernandes, 45, walk in with two other people.

Fernandes got in line while the others sat down in chairs in the lobby. "They appeared to be a little down on their luck and, possibly, they had a bit to drink," Komenich said.

Fernandes began talking to a teller, and they appeared to be having a normal conversation, Komenich said. But then the suspect began raising his voice and told the teller, "Give me your money," Komenich said. The teller complied.

When Fernandes reached into his pocket, Komenich said he thought to himself, "If anything bad is going to happen, it's going to happen next."

So Komenich walked over to the suspect. "I clamped him down in a bear hug," said Komenich, who stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 260 pounds. Fernandes is about 5-foot-10 "and maybe 180," Komenich said.

Komenich said he wasn't sure, but that he may have lifted the suspect off the ground for a moment. "That sort of established that I had him," he said. Fernandes didn't resist, he said.

Komenich held on for five minutes until police arrived. They found no weapon on Fernandes, whom they arrested along with his two companions, Johnnie Dale Gray, 39, and Tamara Leeann Rennert, 40. All three are being held at Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of robbery.

"We're applauding the heroic acts of this professor, by all means, but we're not necessarily encouraging this kind of activity," Sgt. Ronnie Lopez, a San Jose police spokesman, said today.

Even though the suspect wasn't armed, the potential was there, Lopez said.

"But more importantly, the two other suspects lingering in the background could have had a gun," he said. "Sometimes, taking matters into your own hands could lead to a deadly confrontation."

Komenich said, "My main reason for doing it was that it seemed like the guy was down on his luck. I just didn't want things to escalate. It was sort of a half-baked attempt at a bank robbery."

He added, "All my life, I've been a witness. I haven't really intervened because it was my job to watch."

Komenich has covered stories in Vietnam, the former Soviet Union, El Salvador, Iraq and Guyana.

In 1987, while working for the San Francisco Examiner, Komenich won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the People Power Revolution that forced President Ferdinand Marcos from office.

Komenich worked at The Chronicle from 200o to 2009. This afternoon, he will be back in class at San Jose State, where he is an assistant professor of new media.

LINK TO PHOTOS

 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/04/14/BASK1CUI5T.DTL&o=0