SAN DIEGO: A Kearny Mesa bank robber dropped some of the loot on a sidewalk yesterday when a dye pack hidden in the money exploded, San Diego police said.

The robber, a black man about 30, 5 feet 6 inches tall and thin, used a note to demand cash at a Bank of America inside an Albertsons on Balboa Avenue near Convoy Street. A teller gave him some money and the dye pack about 6 p.m.

Officers searched for a red-spattered robber in a gray short-sleeved shirt and blue ballcap with red lettering, but didn't find him. They did find bits of the exploded pack and some cash on Armour Street a few blocks away.

–P.R.