OnScene TV Five teens were arrested after a robbery and pursuit in Houston on December 20, 2021, police say.
Five teens were arrested after police say they robbed a game room on Boone Road in Houston on December 20, 2021, and then fled from officers. The suspects were taken into custody after officers used a PIT maneuver to disable the SUV they were driving in, police said. The SUV crashed in the area of 900 Echo Lane and all of the suspects were arrested without incident.
Police said the robbery happened about 1:30 a.m. at Cafe L’amour and the ensuing chase ended just after 1:50 a.m. The suspects include four teen girls, with the youngest being 14, and a 19-year-old man. The teen girls have not been identified because of their age and the 19-year-old’s name has not yet been released. Police have not said what charges the five teens will be facing.
No one was injured or shot at the scene and the teens were also not injured at the end of the pursuit, police said. Heavy on Houston has reached out to the Houston Police Department for additional information about the incident, including what charges have been filed.
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3 Teen Girls Entered the Game Room & Cafe, Fired a Shot in the Air & Held Customers at Gunpoint, Robbing Them, Before Fleeing, Police Say
Houston Police Lieutenant Emanuel Pavel said at the scene, “At approximately 1:32 a.m. officers were called to a robbery progress at address 7238 Boone Road, it’s a cafe, Cafe L’Amour, it’s a game room/cafe.” Pavel said the preliminary investigation revealed the suspects held-up customers and employees at the business.
“They walked into the game room, shot one round into the air and started demanding cash from the people that were inside there,” Pavel said. “They robbed everybody inside there and took off. Officers were able to recover a pistol and also recover a bunch of cash.”
Pavel added, “We’re still investigating. We’re still trying to determine exactly what occurred. Officers at the scene, they’re looking at camera footage.” He said the department’s robbery division investigators would also be at the scene. Pavel said the 19-year-old male suspect was driving the SUV and four juvenile females were inside the SUV, and three of them entered the business during the robbery.
After the Hold-Up, the 3 Teens Got Into a Waiting SUV, Which Fled From Arriving Officers
Pavel said when the officers arrived they saw three suspects leaving Cafe L’Amour and running to a vehicle, a white GMC SUV. The officers who saw the teen girls leaving the cafe, “tried to make a traffic stop and a chase occurred,” Pavel said.
“The chase started around 1:39 a.m. and ended about 1:53 a.m., so about 14 minutes,” Pavel said. “Officers were able to use a PIT maneuver, which is a technique that certain officers are trained to use in order to stop a vehicle that’s fleeing. They were able to take all the suspects in custody. There were four suspects, four females and one male. They’re all juveniles between the ages of 14 to 19. The driver was 19, he’s considered an adult.”
A PIT maneuver, or Precision Immobilization Technique, “is a technique used by law enforcement personnel to force a fleeing vehicle to abruptly turn 180 degrees, causing the vehicle to stall and stop,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Officers are trained to use the front of their patrol vehicle to hit the rear of a suspect’s vehicle to cause it to spin.
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