By Rupert Howell
An armed robbery allegedly cost a car shopper $1,700 on Armstrong Street when assailants put a gun to the back of his head after hitting him repeatedly, according to Batesville Police Patrolman Brandon Urban’s incident report.

The crime occurred Saturday, February 7 and two suspects, described as black males in the report, fled the scene on foot.

Urban’s report indicated the victim was riding with someone who was taking him to Sardis to look at a car he was going to possibly purchase. The car in which they were riding began to overheat  and they pulled into an alley to let the auto cool down.

Urban’s report stated that two black males wearing black hooded seat shirts and blue jeans approached him and told him to give them the money.

The victim thought they were joking until the taller of the two pulled him from the vehicle and threw him to the ground and began hitting him repeatedly in the side and on the back of the head the report states.

“When he tried to look back . . . to possibly identify them, one . . . placed a gun to the back of his head and ordered him not to look at them or he would kill him. One . . . ordered him to tell them where the money was located once again. He told (them) where the money was and they took it along with an iphone 4S and his wallet,” the report states.

Taken along with the $1,700 in $20 bills and wallet were social security card, state ID and a Thermos debit card.

Apparently the driver fled the scene also on foot behind the assailants although names and other information is redacted (blacked out) of the report provided to The Panolian.

The report stated the victim refused medical treatment and also stated that Detective Jeremiah Brown was called to investigate.

Other incident reports provided by BPD covering last weekend’s activities included vandalization of six storage buildings at Nickle Storage on Highway 6 East behind the car wash.
Six rental storage units had been vandalized and possibly burglarized between the hours of  5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 and 9:39 a.m. the following morning according to Patrolman Will Parrish’s report.

The compromised locks were not located and damage was estimated at $60 per unit or $360 total.

An incident on Batesville Public Square must have been domestic as a woman called BPD stating her husband had broken the windows out of her vehicle.

Terrell’s report stated that when he arrived Lieutenant Ruby Myers had the suspect in handcuffs and he did a pat down locating a box cutter from his pocket.

“I also could smell a very strong odor of what I believed to be a intoxicating beverage,” Terrell’s  report continued.

The report stated, “(The suspect) began to get upset and stated that, ‘I need to just get away from my wife-she is a mean person and she’s alway verbally abusing me. She dated my brother back in 1995. She tricked me into marrying her.

“I snapped and used the glass bottle to break the windows,” the suspect said according to the report.

He was transported to Panola County jail.