A robbery at Post Oak Mall and a subsequent car chase and crash kept College Station police busy early this morning, thanks to information from a witness.
Lieutenant Chuck Fleeger says Brandon Mendez of Bryan, 18, the driver, was caught after losing control of his car on the northbound freeway service road at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and crashing into a bridge guardrail.
He says officers recovered more than $3,000 worth of merchandise stolen from gaming kiosks.
Fleeger says the passenger remains at large.
Click below to listen to Lieutenant Chuck Fleeger visit with WTAW’s Kat McMullen.
Additional information, courtesy of College Station Police Department:
Burglary of Building
On December 18, 2013, at about 0203 hours officers of the College Station Police Department responded to Post Oak Mall in the 1500 blk of Harvey Road in regards to a report of a burglary that had just occurred.
A witness at that location was able to provide dispatch with information regarding suspect description, vehicle description, license plate information, and direction of travel.
Responding officers located the suspect vehicle as it was leaving the area northbound on the east frontage road of Earl Rudder Freeway and attempted to stop it near Harvey Road.
The driver of the suspect vehicle refused to yield to efforts to pull it over, fleeing northbound onto the highway, and a pursuit began and continued into Bryan.
The vehicle continued on Earl Rudder, exited at William Joel Bryan and continued northbound on the east frontage road.
As the vehicle attempted to negotiate a left turn onto Martin Luther King, the driver lost control of the vehicle and it struck the bridge guardrail and came to a stop.
The driver and a passenger fled the crash scene on foot and the driver was taken into custody after a short foot pursuit with assistance from responding Bryan PD units.
The passenger of the suspect vehicle has not been located as of this time.
Through preliminary investigation it was learned that two suspects had entered into Post Oak Mall through the west side of the mall by smashing an exterior and then interior window.
While in the mall, the suspects then burglarized two different gaming kiosks that dispensed items such as purses, cell phones, gift cards and other high dollar items to winners.
Officers were able to recover over $3000.00 of property believed to have been taken from these kiosks.
Arrested was:
Brandon Lee Loy Mendez
18 years old
Bryan, TX
Mendez was charged with Burglary of a Building, 2 counts of Burglary of a Coin Operated Machine, and Evading in a Vehicle.
The investigation into this incident continues and additional arrests and charges are possible.
Anyone with information regarding this offense is asked to call the College Station Police Department at 979-764-3600 or Brazos County Crime Stoppers at 979-775-TIPS.