Teenager dragged by car during Susupe robbery

A teenager was injured after he was dragged 50 feet away from a car driven by a 25-year-old man who allegedly grabbed his cellphone along Texas Road in Susupe last Wednesday afternoon.

Police officers arrested the suspect, Benjamin Bok Lee, during a follow-up investigation later that afternoon.

The victim, a Korean, suffered a 4-inch laceration on his right hip. His Galaxy Samsung cellphone worth $1,000 was stolen, police said.

At an initial appearance hearing on Friday, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho retained the $10,000 cash bail that Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio originally imposed on Lee for robbery charge.

Preliminary hearing will be tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1:30pm.

Assistant public defender Cindy Nesbit was appointed as counsel for Lee. Assistant attorney general Betsy Weintraub appeared for the government.

Police Detective Catherine B. Pangelinan stated in her report that on Wednesday at 2:57pm, two police officers were dispatched to Smile Poker in Susupe for a reported robbery case that happened along Texas Road.

Pangelinan said according to the victim, he was standing by Smile Poker waiting for his friend when a brown Santa Fe car stopped along the road and the operator, Lee, was saying something to him.

The victim walked to the driver’s window and asked Lee what was he saying. Lee asked him to use his phone, but the victim refused.

Lee allegedly grabbed the victim’s hand that was holding the phone into the window and sped off, heading north. The victim had to pick up his body to avoid getting his feet dragged along the road.

After driving 50 feet, Lee released the victim’s arm, causing him to fall to the ground. As a result, the victim’s right hip was scraped on the ground.

A witness told police that he saw the teenager hanging on the driver’s window and was close to getting run over by the car.

Pangelinan said that, at 3:23pm that same day, two other police officers spotted the brown Santa Fe driven by an Oriental man along Tupak Street in Susupe heading east.

The officers lost sight of the vehicle, but later saw the man, who was driving the car, walking along a road near Lake Susupe Apartment in Susupe.

The two officers pulled over to the side and approached the driver who was identified as Lee.

At 3:30pm, the two other police officers who responded to Smile Poker escorted the victim over to the other officers’ location.

The victim identified Lee as the person who robbed him of his cellphone and dragged him along Texas Road.

Lee was then arrested and his Santa Fe with license plate ACW-402 was towed and impounded.