Police credited attention to detail by a patrol officer with the Monday arrest of man they had been seeking in connection with a Sept. 30 robbery at a store on U.S. 64 East.
Deshawn Smith, 26, of 333 Second Ave. in Knightdale was in a Hardee’s restaurant on Monday morning when Officer Patricia Moore saw him and noted his resemblance to the man seen in a surveillance photo that police had distributed after the robbery at a nearby Smoker Friendly shop, Chief Lawrence Capps said.
Moore contacted detectives, who confirmed they were still looking for the robbery suspect, headed for the restaurant and arrested Smith without incident, Capps said.
“Patricia could have easily dismissed her observation as coincidence. Instead, she chose to act on a very small thing that turned out to have huge and positive results. Her keen observation this morning, and her awareness of the case details, are what led to this arrest,” Capps said in a statement.
Smith was charged with common-law robbery, held in the Wake County Detention Center in lieu of $20,000 and scheduled for a first court appearance Tuesday.
Police said when they distributed the robbery photo that the man had a bag from a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts and suggested it held a gun, but the charge police filed indicated they determined he was unarmed.
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