I didn't read it that way. I read it that the friend called the police, and then they led the responding officer to the ATM. From the story:
...The friend called police and the officer met them on Cypress Street in Bloomfield, police said.
Todd's friend offered to drive her back in the direction she came from to look at ATMs until she found the right one, police said. A police officer followed until Todd pointed out a Citizens Bank ATM at Liberty and Pearl, police said.
Wait a sec. I thought she was looking for a B of A ATM to avoid the service charge? That's how she came to be driving around, ending up in a bad neighborhood (as she duly noted on her web page).
Did she give up on avoiding the fee and stopped in the bad neighborhood instead of going back closer to where she was staying? That makes sense./s