DRAPER, Utah, Aug. 1, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Police want to find four male teenagers who robbed a 7-Eleven on Lone Peak Parkway very early Wednesday morning.
Draper Police Officer Boyle said the incident probably was intended to be the simple theft of beer, but the teens upped the ante when they decided to tussle with the clerk who tried to stop them.
Three of them entered the store, at 12292 S. Lone Peak Parkway (150 West), right around midnight or a little after.
One teen got a drink and took it to the counter. While he distracted the clerk, two of his cohorts ran out of the store with four cases of beer, Boyle said.
The fourth teen waited outside in the black sedan they drove up in.
The male clerk caught on to what they were doing and went after the two who took the beer, Boyle said. They dropped one case as they fled, but managed to keep the rest, while the teen with the drink threw it at the clerk.
“The clerk went and stood in the open driver’s door of the car, talking with the driver,” Boyle told Gephardt Daily.
The conversation lasted three or four seconds, Boyle said, and then the driver backed up the car, dragging the clerk backwards into the middle of the parking lot.
The clerk clung to the door as he was dragged, then fell to the ground, and the four teens drove away.
“The clerk is OK. He has some bruises and scrapes, but he stayed on his feet until he fell and they drove off,” Boyle said.
As the teen driver backed up, with the open car door forcing the clerk backwards, the door hit a white sedan that happened to be parked next to it.
Boyle said the impact was enough to damage the hinges on the teen driver’s door, preventing it from closing all the way.
What would have been a theft became a robbery the minute the teens made physical contact with the clerk, Boyle explained. The robbery became an aggravated robbery when their vehicle dragged the clerk into the parking lot.
“We have great surveillance video of the three teens inside the store,” Boyle said.
“We’ll have good face shots of the kids and somebody’s sure to recognize them. We also have a partial shot of the driver’s face. We suspect they’re probably local.”
The four suspects are described as being age 18 or younger. “Driving age or a little older,” Boyle said.
They were driving a newer model, black four-door sedan. It likely has visible damage to the driver’s door from hitting the parked vehicle.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as soon as more information becomes available.
