A surveillance video showing a woman being attacked in the middle of an Atlanta crosswalk is only the beginning of a case that took an even more dramatic turn days later.
Atlanta police say the man accused of following the woman from a Midtown MARTA station and attacking her was later arrested after allegedly taking a marked police cruiser and crashing it into a tanker truck.
Police identified the suspect as 30-year-old Phelan Thorpe.
The crosswalk attack
According to police, the incident began Saturday, October 3, near 10th Street and West Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta.
Investigators said Thorpe followed the woman after she left the Midtown MARTA station.
Police say he confronted her, claimed he had a gun and demanded her purse and iPhone.
The encounter turned physical.
Surveillance footage released by Atlanta police shows the man following the woman and then appearing to attack her in the middle of the busy crosswalk.
According to police, the suspect punched the woman during the struggle before taking her phone and driver's license and running away.
The woman was transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation.
Investigators initially released the surveillance footage while asking the public for help identifying the person they believed was responsible.
Police later identified Thorpe as the suspect and said he was wanted in connection with the robbery and assault.
Then the case took another turn
Two days later, police received a report that a wanted man was at a home on Thomasville Drive SE and might be armed.
Officers went to the location and found Thorpe, according to police.
But authorities say he managed to get inside a marked Atlanta Police Department patrol vehicle and drive away.
The alleged escape quickly turned into another dangerous incident.
Police say Thorpe drove the cruiser into neighboring Clayton County before crashing into a tanker truck on Interstate 675.
He was taken into custody after the crash.
Authorities said Thorpe suffered minor, non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital.
No officers or other civilians were reported injured in the crash, according to police.
A case that kept escalating
The incident has now drawn attention not only because of the surveillance footage showing the alleged robbery in broad daylight, but also because of what police say happened after investigators located the suspect.
Thorpe faces robbery and simple battery charges connected to the alleged attack, according to Atlanta police. Reports also say authorities were investigating the circumstances surrounding the alleged theft of the police vehicle and the subsequent crash.
The investigation remains ongoing.
For the woman seen in the surveillance footage, what began as an encounter after leaving a train station allegedly ended with a violent struggle in the middle of a busy Atlanta intersection.
For investigators, the case then became something much bigger when the suspect was allegedly found days later and authorities say he drove away in a police cruiser.
The surveillance footage has left viewers with one question:
How did a robbery in the middle of an Atlanta crosswalk turn into a police-cruiser chase and tanker-truck crash just days later?
