Knightdale — When police Lieutenant David Simmons heard the vehicle description in a Raleigh bank robbery, he remembered details that helped break that case and a similar one in Knightdale.

“It was just coincidental,” the Knightdale lieutenant said. “I had just dealt with an individual with a vehicle in Knightdale that matched that description to a T.”

Daryle Barnard Carter, 39, of 4313 Haverty Place in Knightdale was charged March 5 with common law robbery in the Wachovia Bank robbery on Knightdale Boulevard Feb. 2. He also was charged with armed robbery at the Wachovia bank on Spring Forest Road in Raleigh Feb. 22.

Also Kendrick Ardell Tanner, 18, was charged with armed robbery in the Raleigh case.

Carter is in the Wake County jail under a $550,000 bond. He has a probable cause hearing scheduled for March 23.

Simmons said Knightdale police got a call from Raleigh investigators who thought the Spring Forest Road case was similar to the Knightdale incident, and the two departments started comparing notes.

“We realized there were some similarities and things kind of unfolded from there,” said Jim Sughrue, Raleigh Police Department spokesman.

Simmons said Carter and one of the suspects in the Raleigh robbery were dressed similarly — covered from head to toe in dark clothing including a mask and a hood.

While Carter left on foot in the Knightdale case, the suspects in Raleigh left in a tan Jeep Cherokee, a witness said.

“When detectives described the vehicle to me, I recognized the description of a vehicle in my dealings with something going on at his (Carter’s) house,” Simmons said. “It happened very recently.”

Carter is accused of robbing the Knightdale Wachovia Feb. 2 when he entered the bank armed with a B.B. gun, made the customers lie down on the floor and demanded money from a teller, Simmons said.

The lieutenant said the robber struck a teller in the head with the gun because she wasn’t giving him the money fast enough.

EMS was called and the teller was treated for her injury at the bank, Simmons said.