COOPER CITY, Fla. – Detectives with the Broward Sheriff’s Office identified a robbery suspect Thursday who they said jumped into a Cooper City canal in an attempt to evade them Tuesday morning.
According to BSO, the robbery happened at a Dollar Tree in the Pine Lake Shopping Center, located near the10000 block of Griffin Road, just before 10:40 a.m.
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Detectives said the suspect, who they identified as Jonathan Andrew Stewart, 24, of Miami, ran away and jumped into the canal, near Palm Avenue in the Summertime Isles community.
According to an arrest report, the Dollar Tree employee who made the call to 911 said that she witnessed Stewart, who entered the store with a black hoodie pulled over his head, holding a toothbrush and then leaving the store without paying for it.
The employee told deputies that she exited the store to tell Stewart that she would pay for the toothbrush, and he did not have the steal it, the report stated.
The employee also told detectives that she was holding her cellphone when she approached Stewart, at which time he “forcefully” grabbed her iPhone 13 and took off, running eastbound in the Pine Lake Plaza parking lot.
Deputies said she told detectives that she believed Stewart dropped his cellphone and that some toothbrushes and toothpaste fell out of his pocket as he ran away.
The employee said that when she tried to run after Stewart to catch up to him, she grabbed the back of his hoodie and said, “Give me my phone,” the report stated.
Deputies said Stewart then threw the victim’s cellphone to the ground, along with the toothbrushes and toothpaste, before he fled the scene and eventually jumped into the canal.
Deputies tried coaxing the suspect, who appeared to have taken at least some of his clothes off, out of the water but a BSO dive team later went in to pull him out.
“He tried to escape. He said that ‘I am almost finished,’ but he was not trying to surrender,” witness Prince Allencherry told Local 10 News Tuesday. “‘I want to die, I want to die. I am finished’ -- that is what he said.”
Wrapped in a blanket or towel, deputies carried the suspect horizontally into a police cruiser.
Authorities said Stewart was examined by Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, who confirmed that he didn’t sustain any injuries.
Jail records show he is facing one count each of strong-arm robbery and illegally concealing his head and face in an attempt to commit a crime.
Stewart was not listed as an inmate on the Broward County jail’s website as of Thursday morning.