Gunter said he saw a car pull into a vacant lot across from his business, Dudley’s Outdoors, on West Point Road shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday and “I thought it was suspicious.”
One of the men ripped the license plate off the back of the vehicle, and they walked south at a brisk pace and got onto Old West Point Road, Gunter said. He called 911 and jumped into his truck.
“I just followed in my truck and cut them off so they couldn’t go any farther. I got out of my truck and told them to stop. They just looked at me and acted like they didn’t know English,” he said.
About 30 seconds later, three LaGrange police and two sheriff’s patrol cars converged on the scene. The man with the license plate dropped it as officers arrived.
Earlier, their Chevrolet Blazer smashed through a wall at Global Beverages at 2157 West Point Road. The car got a few feet inside the store, destroying 15 to 20 boxes of wine, then backed up and took off.
Employee Nate Tatum had co-worker Ruby Leigh Terry call 911 while he ran outside and got the vehicles’s tag number.
“I told them, ‘I’ll see you. You can’t get away,’ ” Tatum said.
Terry, who had been waiting on a customer at the time, said “it sounded like a bomb going off” when the SUV crashed through the wall. “It really scared me.”
Officers arrested Zamoremo Cruz-Mendoza, 20, of Teaver Road and his two passengers. Cruz-Mendoza, identified by a witness as the driver, was charged with DUI and striking a fixed object.
Damage to the building was extensive, police said.
- Staff writer Kenneth Thompson contributed to this report
Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.
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