Victim among 3 arrested after downtown Columbus robbery leads to chase, knife fight
A Monday morning robbery near the Chattahoochee Riverwalk downtown led to a brief car chase, a fight involving a knife and a baseball bat, and three arrests — including the victim, Columbus police said.
The incident also sparked a brief debate in Columbus Recorder’s Court over whether suspects can be charged with armed robbery if they are not armed when a robbery occurs, but are armed when a victim confronts them later.
According to testimony Tuesday in a preliminary hearing for Jacob Reynolds and Emily Michelle Peck, the victim told officers she had a fight with her boyfriend early Monday and decided to cool off by driving to Bay Avenue and parking near the splash pad at 10th Street, where she fell asleep listening to music.
She was awakened around 5 a.m. by the sound of her passenger side door slamming, and saw a man and woman running away, she told police. Realizing money had been taken from her wallet, she started her car and followed the red Volkswagen the couple fled in, she reported.
The Volkswagen stopped at Broadway and 11th Street, where Reynolds got out and approached her with a baseball bat, Officer Tyler Wise testified. Undeterred, the victim got a knife from her car and confronted him, Wise said.
Reynolds hit her in the hand with the bat, causing a cut from the knife she was holding, and she stabbed him in the bicep, the officer said. Reynolds threw some of the stolen cash at her, then fled in the Volkswagen, Wise testified.
The 21-year-old victim told police $700 was taken from her wallet, and Reynolds threw only $200 of it back at her.
Wise said portions of the incident were recorded on surveillance video, but the images were too blurred to be useful.
The arrests
Police caught up with Reynolds and Peck at the hospital emergency room, where he went to be treated for the stab wound, the officer said. Each initially was charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, and entering an automobile with the intent to commit theft, according to court records.
During their preliminary hearing, Reynolds, 30, was represented by public defender Robin King, and Peck, arrested on her 21st birthday, was represented by Alfonza Whitaker. Both defense attorneys objected to the armed robbery charge, arguing no evidence showed that Peck had a weapon or that Reynolds had the baseball bat when the money was stolen.
After Judge Julius Hunter gave them time to research the issue, both attorneys along with prosecutor Nicholas Hud agreed the armed robbery charge should be reduced to robbery.
Hud asked Hunter to hold the suspects without bond, saying they already were out on bond from a previous charge of illegally entering an automobile, reported in June 2020 in Harris County.
The defense attorneys argued both of their clients are local residents with no prior felony convictions, and should be entitled to “a reasonable bond.”
King noted also that though the victim reported Reynolds hit her twice with the bat, she had no obvious injuries, according to the officers who saw her afterward.
Hunter ordered Reynolds held without bond, because of the alleged assault with the baseball bat. He set Peck’s bonds at $10,000 for aggravated assault and $5,000 each for robbery and for entering an auto to commit theft. He sent the case to Muscogee Superior Court, ordering the suspects to have no contact with the victim.
The victim also was arrested, authorities said, because she was wanted for violating probation.
The attorneys said she was on probation for a case of robbery by snatching.