Robbery suspects crash into bystander’s car during chase
Two armed robbery suspects crashed into a bystander’s vehicle while fleeing deputies Friday morning, according to the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office.
On Thursday, a 19-year-old man reported another man around his age approached him with a black and silver handgun just before 6 p.m. on Biltmore Road in northwest Orlando’s Fairview Shores neighborhood, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Deputy Ingrid Tejada-Monforte said.
The suspect reportedly took the man’s wallet and fled the scene in a vehicle, she said. The victim was not harmed in the robbery.
The victim tried to track down the vehicle in which the suspect fled at the Intown Suites at 736 Lee Road about a mile and a half north of the crime scene, Tejada-Monforte said. But by the time deputies arrived at the extended-stay hotel, the suspects had left the area.
About 10 a.m. Friday, an Orange County deputy spotted a suspect inside a vehicle matching the description of the one used in the armed robbery the day before, she said.
The deputy watched the vehicle pull into the parking lot of the Shell gas station at Forest City Road and Riverside Drive and followed it in, Tejada-Monforte said.
When the deputy tried to approach the driver, the vehicle left the gas station, fleeing north on Riverside Drive, she said.
The deputy began to chase the vehicle. As the suspect went to cross Magnolia Homes Road, the driver hit an innocent bystander’s vehicle, “causing it to crash into a large rock and severely damaging the vehicle,” Tejada-Monforte said. The suspect’s vehicle then hit a pile of rocks and crashed into a tree.
A woman darted from the driver’s side of the suspect’s vehicle. Deputies chased her on foot, catching and arresting her a short distance away, Tejada-Monforte said.
Deputies also found the male suspect in the crashed vehicle and apprehended him. He was stuck inside and could not escape because of damage to the the vehicle, she said. Investigators also found two guns inside.
The suspects and victim were not immediately identified. Tejada-Monforte did not say if anyone was hurt in the crash.