Off-duty trooper catches robber in the act
10:22 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 6, 2009
An off-duty trooper interrupted a violent robbery this week and kept it from being much worse.
Jeff Evans typically fights crime from the sky as a tactical flight officer with the Department of Public Safety. On Monday night, he accidentally stumbled on a robbery while driving home from work."I was actually talking on the phone with my mom, seeing how she was doing,” said Evans. “As I went up the access road, I saw a gentleman running from (a) Chevron. He was bleeding profusely from the head. He had blood all over his shirt.”
Evans immediately pulled into the parking lot, which is located on the westbound access road of Highway 71 near I-35. The man told Evans he was working at the Southeast Austin Chevron when a customer suddenly hit him over the head with a bottle of beer.
"I look back to the store and I see the female and it looks like she was screaming,” he said.
The woman, also a store clerk, was too shaken up to speak with us Wednesday. According to the court affidavit, she said the robber pointed the broken bottle at her and demanded cash and her car keys.
When the robber walked out, Evans got him on the ground.
"Once he was handcuffed, and APD got there, I just kind of stood back like what just happened,” he said.
Joseph Franklin Smith, 43, is charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Evans says he had only been out of jail for a month. He was serving time for a different robbery.
As for the injured store clerk, the store manager told us he had to go to the hospital, but is doing fine. “I was glad I had the opportunity to help them out and everything worked out,” he said.
Smith is in the Travis County Jail with a $100,000 bond.
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