HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – An alleged thief was arrested after trying to steal from a lawn care crew, who also slashed the man in the face with a weedwhacker.
The unusual series of events unfolded Friday afternoon outside of a home near the corner of Renmark Lane and Prestonwood Forest Drive in Northwest Harris County.
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According to Harris County Constable Precinct 3 Captain Daniel Garza, the lawn crew was working at a home when they noticed two vehicles pull up to their truck and trailer.
“He observed a black Mercedes and a red Nissan Altima drive on the roadway,” Captain Garza said. “A suspect exited the red Nissan Altima and stole two backpack blowers out of his trailer and put him in the backseat and began to flee the scene.”
That’s when the lawn care worker, armed with just a weed eater, walked over to confront the man, who was later identified as 23-year-old Jarell Alexander.
“He was halfway in the vehicle, halfway out in the process of putting the blowers in and he was able to strike him with his weed eater in the head, causing him to fall out the vehicle,” Garza said. “The suspect was kind of incoherent from being being hit in the head with the weed eater.”
The four other suspects in the two separate vehicles initially took off. While the lawn care worker and a nearby neighbor were holding Alexander on the ground, the other suspects came back, demanding their friend be let free.
“The red Nissan comes back. An occupant in the Nissan displays a weapon,” Garza said.
Both vehicles showed up at a nearby hospital where Alexander went for treatment. Constable deputies tracked him down at the hospital and arrested him.
Alexander is facing charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
His four friends got away, but not before being caught on security cameras.
Investigators are now searching for the other suspects involved in the incident.
Meanwhile, detectives are encouraging everyone to keep track of their equipment’s serial number and other features to help finding stolen goods easier.
Captain Garza saying crooks most often steal equipment like this in order to sell it, sometimes to a pawn shop.
“Take photographs of your equipment, log the serial numbers down and you can go a step further. Put a special marking that identifies them in a way that if you show numbers scratched off or damaged, you still have a marking that positively identifies your equipment,” Garza said. “A lot of times, these suspects will go and try to resell this equipment to pawnshops or other crews and that way we’re able to track this equipment.”