Police: Shoplifting suspect steals officer’s Taser at Menards

MIAMI TWP., Montgomery County — UPDATE @ 10:30 p.m.

A 29-year-old man was jailed Friday night in connection to an attempted theft at Menards that led to a Miami Twp. police officer’s Taser being stolen during a scuffle.

Corey Pabst was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on suspicion of robbery, felonious assault and obstructing official business. Formal charges have not been filed against him.

FIRST REPORT

A man trying to shoplift a torch lighter from Menards turned into a robbery Friday afternoon when police say the suspect fought with an officer and stole his Taser before fleeing the store.

Miami Twp. police responded just after 2:30 p.m. to the home improvement store at 8480 Springboro Pike after store security detained the man for allegedly taking a butane torch lighter that cost less than $2 and told police the man may have drugs as well, according to a release.

When the officer searched the suspect to arrest him, the man pushed the officer and tried to escape but the officer and man began struggling inside the store. During the scuffle, the suspect stole the officer’s Taser and ran out of the store, got inside his vehicle and headed south out of the parking lot.

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Within minutes, officers found the man’s vehicle abandoned, with the Taser inside, in a parking lot on Newmark Drive near Gander Creek Drive.

While police were searching for him, Centerville police reported that a man matching the suspect’s description was at Miami Valley Hospital South, claiming to have been in an accident. That man was identified as the suspect in the Menards incident.

The officer involved suffered a minor injury and was treated at a local hospital, police said.