A Miami Gardens man is accused of stealing a backpack and then driving erratically to throw two people off the hood of a car during his getaway, Davie Police said.
Dante Lewaun Austin, 27, is facing 18 charges including armed robbery, aggravated assault, and fraud following the June 6 theft outside a restaurant in the Tower Shops plaza in Davie.
According to the arrest report, Austin snatched the backpack from a chair outside the Poke Ramen restaurant and got in the driver’s seat of a red Nissan Altima about 7:30 p.m.
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A woman who owned the backpack and a man eating with her jumped on the hood of the Nissan as Austin drove off. He swerved sharply several times until the pair fell off the car, then Austin sped away, the report stated.
The man and woman – whose names were redacted from the police report – were treated at HCA Westside Hospital in Plantation for road rash and other injuries.
Austin used the credit cards in the backpack to spend nearly $590 at a Publix and Chevron in Fort Lauderdale, investigators said.
Within an hour, police traced the Nissan’s license plate number to an address in Plantation. Officers said they found Austin in the parked Nissan and when they approached Austin, he ran off.
He was caught a short time later with help from a police helicopter and K9 officer. Austin was treated at the hospital and taken to the Broward County Jail where he remains without bond, records show.
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