It started with a beating at a Midtown intersection. Two days later it ended with a stolen police car wrapped around a tanker truck on I-675. And in between, the alleged attacker left a threat on the victim’s voicemail that has her family furious.
Atlanta police say 30-year-old Phelan Thorpe followed Georgia State University senior Amaris Coleman from the Midtown MARTA station to 10th and West Peachtree streets on Saturday afternoon. According to police, he told her he had a gun, punched her, and took her phone and her ID. Surveillance video released by police shows him following her at a crosswalk before the attack. Coleman told FOX 5 she tried to talk her way out of it: “I’m in the middle of the street, fighting for my life in the broad daylight.”
Two days later, on Monday afternoon, officers responding to a report of a wanted man possibly armed at Thomasville Drive SE spotted Thorpe. Police say he jumped into a marked Atlanta patrol car sitting nearby and took off. He drove it into Clayton County and slammed into a tanker truck on I-675 southbound near Forest Parkway. He was arrested at the scene with minor injuries. No officers or civilians were hurt.
Thorpe waived his first court appearance Tuesday. A judge set a $67,000 bond, but jail records show he is still in custody. Records reviewed by FOX 5 show arrests going back to 2009, including theft, robbery, battery and terroristic threats.
Coleman, speaking out Monday night, said she learned he has a long rap sheet. “I don’t think he should have ever been let loose,” she said. “He’s a menace. He’s a menace to society.” She also revealed the voicemail greeting left on her stolen phone: a man’s voice saying “I’m gonna come air that b—- out” and demanding $600 on Cash App. Coleman’s phone and ID were never recovered, and her family has started a GoFundMe to help her replace her essentials and get counseling.
Even after everything, Coleman said seeing the cruiser crash stirred something complicated in her. “It just kind of made me feel bad because that’s still somebody’s child,” she said. “I don’t want him to burn to death.”
See also: Lucki Left Bloodied After ComplexCon Fight Involving Playboi Carti’s Entourage | Gunfire At Minnesota Homecoming Game Wounds 2 Teens, Clears Out Packed Stadium