A 16-year-old suspect has been charged with armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle and other offenses after the stolen car he was driving collided with two police cars Wednesday.
The juvenile has been charged with robbing the owner of the car on the 200 block of West Oglethorpe Avenue Tuesday night after holding a box cutter to his face. A cell phone stolen during the robbery was recovered after the crash, police said. Two other males in the car at the time, age 17 and 18, were questioned and released.
The three males were taken into custody after the car in which they were riding collided with a Georgia State Patrol car on Interstate 516. The 2013 Nissan Altima then sideswiped a Metro police car.
The Altima was taken Tuesday in the robbery of a 28-year-old man in front of his apartment about 11 p.m.. The owner said he was sitting in the car when a man placed a box cutter to his face, ordered him out of the vehicle and drove away in it.
The Georgia State Patrol is investigating the collision. Metro detectives continue to investigate the robbery and collision.
Undercover officers from the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) identified the car traveling on 37th Street and alerted a Metro officer who attempted a traffic stop on Interstate 16 just before 1 p.m.
The car sped away and the Metro officer discontinued the pursuit, but a state trooper in the area interceded. He attempted to corral the Altima on a bridge on I-516, but it struck his car and then sideswiped the Metro car.
Damage to each police car was slight, but the Altima received heavier damage and had to be towed away. It had been purchased a week ago and still bore a paper tag.