Daytona Beach, FL – A Daytona Beach man on probation for robbery is back in jail for robbing a Bethune-Cookman University employee of her lunch and ID card.
18-year-old Derrick D. Johnson was arrested by the Daytona Beach Police Department Tuesday morning, ending a chase that led DBPD to lock down Daytona State College and Halifax Health Medical Center for part of the morning.
It all started around 6am when a BCU employee was walking alone near the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard, according to the arrest report.
That employee – a Holly Hill resident whose age wasn’t listed in the report – told officers she was carrying a lunch bag that looked a lot like a purse while crossing the MLK/MMB intersection and that’s when 2 men ran up to her from behind and demanded that she give them everything she had.
Police think those men and 2 others were cruising the area in a dark blue 4-door Chevrolet Impala with Ohio tags when they spotted the woman walking alone, at which point the driver killed the headlights, pulled into a nearby parking lot and waited while the men sitting in the front and rear passenger seats got out to rob the woman.
The woman claims the 2 men who approached her took her lunch bag by force and demanded her cell phone, which she refused to give. It was at that point when Padilla screamed for help and the men ran back towards the waiting Impala.
BCU police officers came to assist the woman and then called DBPD for help once it was discovered that the Impala fled the campus going north on MLK.
The woman was “hysterical” but not seriously hurt, per the report.
A DBPD officer spotted the Impala around 30 minutes later on North Street near Clyde Morris Boulevard and attempted to pull the vehicle over, but the driver went south on Heineman Street instead and tried to speed away, according to DBPD.
The vehicle part of the chase ended on Willis Avenue when the Impala’s driver lost control and crashed the vehicle into a fence, leading to all 4 of its occupants running away on foot.
A search perimeter encompassing the DSC and HHMC campuses was set up as K-9 units and Air One – the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office helicopter – searched the area for the 4 suspects.
It was around 7am, per the arrest report, when an officer spotted one of the suspects – since identified as Johnson – coming out of some bushes alongside a DSC building and take off running eastbound through the campus. Other officers joined the chase and eventually surrounded Johnson, allowing the first officer to take him into custody.
When questioned afterward, Johnson admitted to being involved in the robbery and grew upset when he discovered what was in the woman’s purse, saying “We stole a [expletive deleted] lunch box,” according to the report.
DBPD says Johnson also initially lied by giving investigators a fake name and claimed he was sitting in the car when 2 other men took the woman’s purse, per the report.
The report also noted that Johnson gave DBPD names that he said were the 3 other men involved in the robbery. Police are now trying to find those men.
As of 3pm Tuesday, Johnson is held without bond at Volusia County Jail on 2 robbery charges as well as giving a false name, trespassing on school property and resisting arrest.
VCJ records show Johnson was arrested on December 2014 for robbery and was on probation for that when he was arrested on Tuesday.
The lockdown was lifted by DBPD around 8:30am. 8am classes were canceled on the DSC campus, but all other classes did take place as scheduled.
Derrick D. Johnson (mugshot courtesy VCJ)
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