Woman Robbed and Dragged at Tyler Restaurant Parking Lot

TYLER – Early Friday morning Tyler Police received a call from the employees at the Whataburger at 6849 S. Broadway Ave. that a white female and a black male were fighting in the parking lot.

While officers were en route to the scene they were notified that employees of the business were holding the suspect down after noticing him attempting to leave following the incident.  Once on the scene officers quickly took custody of Todd Lax, 24, from Arlington and discovered the female victim was an employee of the Wal-Mart Super Center located at 6801 S. Broadway Ave.

While investigating the incident officers determined Lax had followed the victim and a fellow Wal-Mart employee to the Whataburger parking lot where he grabbed the victim’s purse and attempted to steal it.  A struggle ensued between Lax and the victim over the purse, which resulted in the victim being pushed to the ground and dragged across the parking lot by Lax.

The victim’s fellow Wal-Mart employee alerted the Whataburger employees who immediately took action by preventing the suspect from fleeing the scene and holding him until officers arrived.  The victim sustained only minor injuries from the incident and Lax was arrested for Robbery, a 2nd degree felony.

East Texas man executed for role in robbery-shooting

HUNTSVILLE — 29- year- old Beunka Adams became the fifth person to be executed in Texas this year after he was put to death Thursday night for his role in a robbery that left three people shot , one fatally.

The execution came less than three hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused a last-day appeal to postpone the punishment. Adams won a reprieve from a federal district judge earlier this week. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the death warrant Wednesday.

Adams and another man were sent to death row for the 2002 slaying of 37-year-old Kenneth Vandever during the holdup of a convenience store in Cherokee County. Two female clerks were shot but survived. One of the women was raped.

Elderly Longview Woman Hit by Car

LONGVIEW -  Police responded to the accident around 5:15a.m. Friday near the intersection of West Loop 281 and Gilmer Rd.

Officers were told that a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Charles Patrick McClain, of Longview, was traveling south on Gilmer Road. McClain stated he did not see the victim, 87-year old Mary Neal of Longview, crossing the roadway.

Neal was transported to Good Shepherd Medical Center with serious, but non- life threatening injuries. At the time of this release no citations have been issued.