Potato chip robbery by man with machete triggers chase, deputies say
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (CBS12) — A man is accused of leading police on a chase in Florida's Panhandle after stealing $17 worth of potato chips with a machete.
According to the Bay County Sheriff's Office, the ordeal began when a delivery truck driver saw a man hop into the back of his truck. The driver confronted the thief.
The man handed the carton of chips to a woman before pulling out a machete and threatening the driver. Authorities said the couple drove off.
Deputies eventually spotted the car on the side of the road. As the man and woman hopped into the car, deputies approached. The sheriff's office said the man crashed into a patrol car and took off, however, he left the woman behind.
Investigators arrested the woman, identified as 24-year-old Jasmine Mundy. She had a warrant for her arrest for violation of probation and possession of several controlled substances. She faces new charges of armed robbery.
The man sped away in the car and led deputies on a chase which ultimately led to an old airport off Highway 390 in Panama City Beach.
Authorities said the man rammed several patrol cars again, crashed through a fence and sped off. He crashed his car into a ditch and ran away. Deputies captured him a short time later.
Two deputies needed to go to the hospital to be treated for non life-threatening injuries.
The suspect, identified by the sheriff's office as 26-year-old Dustin Odom of Pasco County, is a convicted felon. He faces a long list of charges including aggravated fleeing and eluding, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, resisting an officer without violence, armed robbery, driving without a license and felony criminal mischief.
