A downtown worker who flagged down a Portland police car to report a robbery in progress said he was surprised by the officer's response Thursday.

"He told me he was off duty and I should call 911," said Rob Anderson, 31. "He rolled up his window and drove away."

Anderson said the officer was in uniform, driving a marked patrol car about a block from the robbery.

Lt. Robert King said the bureau will investigate. King said he informed the Central Precinct commander, who was unaware of the encounter but will contact Anderson.

"We will look into this and take the appropriate action,'' King said.

The robbery occurred at

at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Alder Street shortly after 1 p.m.

A suspect walked in and said he had a gun and would use it if the staff didn't give him drugs and cash. He also threatened to kill everyone in the store, police said.

That's about when Anderson, who works at a social software company around the corner on Southwest Third Avenue, entered the drug store to buy aspirin.

"I didn't notice anything until the pharmacist behind the counter yelled for us to 'Get out of here!' We're closed! " Anderson said.

"I thought that was kind of weird," he said.

He looked around, and noticed, "Everyone in here has their hands up."

He realized he had walked into a robbery and quickly backtracked out of the store with his parents, who were visiting from Delaware. There were about six people inside the pharmacy at the time.

Anderson started dialing 9-1-1 on his cell phone as he walked east on Alder toward Southwest Third Avenue. He was in the middle of dialing when he saw the police car, stopped in southbound traffic on Third Avenue near Alder.

"I ran around to the driver's side of his vehicle, and said, 'Hey, there's a robbery going on just down the block here,'" Anderson said. "I figured that would be faster than calling 9-1-1."

When the officer declined to help, Anderson did dial 9-1-1.

"I felt that the officer was less than helpful," Anderson said.

Inside the store, Gary Lundgren, the drug store's owner and pharmacist for 28 years, gave the robbery suspect a few bottle of pills and the suspect fled.

"He wanted opiates," Portland Sgt. Pete Simpson said. "The owner gave him something else to get rid of him."

Once the man left, Lundgren grabbed his own gun and with a pharmacy technician chased the man down.

Lundgren keeps a gun in his store for protection, said his lawyer, Steven Ungar.

"He does need to protect himself and his business, and the people there are more like his family," Ungar said.

Ungar said the technician "had the suspect in essentially a full Nelson" by the time Lundgren arrived. Portland police showed up soon afterwards, arresting the suspect at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Yamhill Street.

Lundgren did not point his gun as the suspect was already on the ground, Ungar said. "He's not a vigilante type. But he takes a great deal of pride in his business," he said.

On Thursday afternoon, Lundgren was back to work. A private Clean and Safe officer stood watch inside the front door.

The suspect did not have a gun. The incident marked the third time this week that employees of a business chased down a robbery suspect for police.

Portland police don't recommend it.

"Our advice to people is be a good witness," Simpson said. "Pay attention to detail. Then call 9-1-1 immediately."

Anderson's co-worker, Allison Park, was disturbed by the initial police response, and Thursday sent a tweet message to Mayor Sam Adams, who serves as police commissioner, to complain.

"I'm slightly concerned that civilians are the one who are apparently responsible for stopping the illicit activity," Park said.

"I am very sorry this happened," the mayor responded to Park and asked if she had the officer's identification. He pledged the bureau will investigate.

Anderson said he's not sure if the officer had a good reason or not for not wanting to get involved. He didn't get his name or car number.

"It boils down to the attitude," Anderson said. "Was having me call 9-1-1 really in keeping in the spirit of helpfulness?"

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