Danny Lamar Cox, Jr., 28, was arrested in connection with a case in which a man who saw that his leaf blower was being taken confronted the suspect and had a gun pulled on him. It happened at the Taco Bell parking lot at 4115 Hixson Pike last Friday.
The victim told police that at 1:25 p.m. a black male in blue jeans and a t-shirt took a company-owned Stihl leaf blower from his work truck that was parked at the Taco Bell.
He said he ran outside to confront the man, who was loading the leaf blower into the back seat of a blue Mitsubishi Outlander. He said the man then pulled a tan pistol from the driver's side door, pointed it at him and said, "Don't move." The victim said he slowly backed away and the man got in his vehicle and fled with the leaf blower.
The victim was able to take a photo with his phone of the fleeing man and was able to provide police with the tag number of the Mitsubishi. The vehicle was found to be registered to a Dominique Lewis at 1211 Poplar Street Court.
The owner of the lawn care business was on scene. He located a paper in the parking lot that appeared to be a scanned copy of an ID card belonging to Cox.
Another witness told police that the man was wearing a black White Sox hat and jeans.
The Mitsubishi was BOLO'd and an officer located the vehicle at 1:44 p.m., parked underneath a camera and still running, at 1211 Poplar St. The officer also located Cox, wearing the hat and jeans witnesses described.
The officer noted he could see what appeared to be a bag of marijuana in the middle console of the Mitsubishi. Also the officer could see the butt of a tan pistol in the driver's side door and a Stihl leaf blower in the back seat.
Although Cox originally denied being in the vehicle, the camera on Poplar Street Court clearly showed he was the lone occupant of the vehicle when it arrived at 1:43 p.m., police said.
Cox and the Mitsubishi were transported to the Police Service Center.
Cox admitted in questioning that he was at the Taco Bell and took the leaf blower, but denied pointing a gun at anyone. He admitted to police that there was marijuana and a pistol in the car. He said a friend had left the pistol in the car, but admitted the gun would have his DNA on it. He told police he had a prior conviction of domestic assault and police informed him that it was then illegal for him to possess a firearm.
Cox was charged with aggravated robbery, one count of unlawful carrying or possession of a firearm and simple possession of marijuana.