Gerard Perry
A police chase Saturday ended with officers arresting their suspect in the bathroom of the Abrams-Royal Starbucks. Multiple police cars, sheriff’s vehicles and an ambulance roared into Town Creek Shopping Center, startling afternoon coffee drinkers and center shoppers.
The pursuit began about 3:30 p.m. when bicycle officers noticed some loiterers drinking and messing with a parked car behind the Carrollton Senior Center, said police spokeswoman Jolene DeVito.
Gerard Perry, 23, then jumped in his vehicle – with his baby son in the back seat – and fled, almost running over the bike cops. As squad cars joined the chase, Perry sped on streets and highways, sometimes traveling the wrong way. He abandoned the car – and his son – in an apartment complex at Royal Lane and Central Expressway and fled on foot.
While police tended to the child (he was returned safely to family members) and looked for Perry, a witness reported seeing Perry inside the Starbucks store. That’s when, according to neighbors, a large number of first responders descended on the center. Perry was arrested in a bathroom stall and charged with aggravated assault of a police officer, evading arrest and child endangerment, as well as the original burglary count. He was taken to the Carrollton Jail.
Starbucks at Abrams and Royal
