CHESTERFIELD, Mo. - A 19-year-old repeat shoplifting suspect has police shaking their heads.
The teen was arrested two days ago, after a police chase and crash. Now he's been arrested again, less than a mile from the police department - about 30 minutes after getting out of jail.
Police responding to a shoplifting call at the Macy’s at Chesterfield Mall couldn't believe it when they arrived saw who the suspect was. It was Christopher Carter, 19, of St. Louis. He was still banged up from allegedly crashing in a stolen pickup a day earlier.
Carter was a passenger in the truck when it crashed through a fence and into a boat and camper at a storage business in the Chesterfield Valley Monday afternoon, police said. He and three others were allegedly trying to get away after shoplifting from an outlet mall. The pickup had been stolen from Clayton earlier that morning.
“We got a call for stealing from the polo store at the Taubman Outlets,” said Sgt. Keith Rider of the Chesterfield Police Department. “When our officers approached the vehicle the suspects were in, the vehicle took off at a high rate of speed onto the levee trail. They ended up crashing. The subjects got out of the vehicle and ran.”
Carter was charged with municipal counts of stealing, resisting arrest, and marijuana possession, spent the night in jail, and was released around 1:15 pm the next afternoon, police said.
The shoplifting call at the mall came about a half-hour later; less than a mile from the police department; an estimated 27-minute walk. As far as police know, no one was there to pick up Carter when he got out of jail. They believe he walked there.
Carter now faces another count of misdemeanor stealing. He’s in the St. Louis county jail with a $500 bond pending an appearance in Chesterfield Municipal Court.
