PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A man matching the description of one who robbed the Santander Bank at Lloyd and Elmgrove avenues just before 5:12 p.m. Tuesday was arrested after several wrong-way crashes on North Main Street.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A man matching the description of one who robbed the Santander Bank at Lloyd and Elmgrove avenues just before 5:12 p.m. Tuesday was arrested after several wrong-way crashes on North Main Street.

Lt. Roger Aspinall said a man passed a note at the bank demanding money and saying he had a firearm. He fled, but police broadcast a description of his vehicle. A Providence officer saw the Ford Fusion with Pennsylvania plates on Hope Street going toward Pawtucket, and tried to pull it over.

Instead, the suspect drove onto Route 95 southbound and exited near the Providence Marriott at Charles and Orms streets and then turned onto Canal Street. The officer, joined by other police vehicles, continued the chase into the East Side, Aspinall said, until the Ford turned south onto North Main and struck several northbound cars in front of 75 North Main St., the First Baptist Church in America.

Rush-hour traffic on North Main was diverted around the closed block near the East Side bus tunnel until about 6:30 p.m. when the damaged cars were loaded onto flatbed tow trucks.

In all, Aspinall said, one patrol car and seven private vehicles were damaged, including the suspect's.

No one was injured, but the suspect was taken away in an ambulance with "medical concerns," Aspinall said.

He said detectives would determine what charges would be filed.

Updated at 9:08 p.m.

— dnaylor@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7411

On Twitter: @donita22