Police investigating attempted aggravated robbery

By BETH FOLEY
The Palestine Herald

PALESTINE May 20, 2008 02:14 am

— Palestine police are investigating an attempted aggravated robbery of a 72-year-old Palestine man waiting for lunch Friday at The Stock Pot.
Sgt. Larry Boyer said Monday that officers were dispatched to The Stock Pot, located inside First Presbyterian Church at 410 Ave. A, at 11:30 a.m. Friday in reference to an assault.
Upon arrival, officers spoke with the elderly victim, who said that he had been waiting outside for the soup kitchen to open when a black male, dressed in black jeans, black shirt and a black stocking on his head struck up a conversation with him.
While they were talking and waiting outside, the man reached into the elderly man’s back pocket for his wallet. The pair fought but the elderly man held onto his wallet, Boyer said, and the other man knocked him down and fled.
When contacted, Stock Pot president Dan Herron said that the Friday serving crew was inside, preparing to open, when they heard someone pounding on the kitchen door and opened it to find the man looking beat up and needing help.
The victim suffered scrapes below his left knee, a large bruise on his right wrist, a small cut behind his left ear, Boyer said, and complained of pain below his right knee.
An ambulance was called but the man refused to go to the hospital for treatment, he said.
Due to the victim’s age and injuries, police are labeling the attack an attempted aggravated robbery, Boyer said, and are searching for the suspect.
In the meantime, Stock Pot crews are taking more precautions but are viewing the attack as an isolated incident, Herron said.
“We are warning people that it did happen,” Herron said. “We’re hoping the police catch somebody. We just hope it doesn’t happen again in the future.”
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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com