By Emily D. Williams

A Memphis man is now sitting in Tate County Jail charged with armed robbery after Tuesday’s high speed chase southbound on I-55 that ended with “stop sticks” disabling his vehicle in Batesville.

Tora Lavell Bennett, 42, of Memphis, was arrested and charged with armed robbery following the incident that began at Kaye’s Food Grocery Store’s Customer Service, located on Norfleet Dr. in the city limits of Senatobia.

Kaye’s was robbed at gunpoint at 11:22 a.m Tuesday morning. The suspect drove away in a Personal Transportation Inc. van stolen from Memphis.

As Bennett ran out the store, one of the store managers ran to his personal car. He followed Bennett down I-55 all the way to Panola County, talking to dispatchers.

”If he was not following the guy, we would have had no direction to go and today he could be robbing someone else,” said Senatobia Assistant Police Chief Robert Brownlee.

Tate County Constable Mike Jones was nearby on Scott and Main Street when he heard the dispatcher report the suspect had headed south on I-55.

Chief Brownlee said Jones followed the suspect, catching up near Como.

“He was doing the speed limit so he didn’t know he was being followed at that time,” Brownlee said.

Brownlee said he left the police station and caught up with the suspect as he neared Sardis.
“Though we (Tate and Panola authorities) never trained together, it seemed like second nature. As soon as we entered Panola, officers were there ready to help,” Brownlee added.

“He really took off when he saw blue lights,” said Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby, who had positioned his vehicle near the I-55/Highway 35 ramps. Darby and Batesville police officers had positioned vehicles at the exit ramp to force the suspect to remain on I-55.

“We didn’t want him driving through town like that during lunch. We didn’t want people getting hurt,” Batesville Police Captain Jimmy McCloud said.

Brownlee said as the pursuit continued he spotted the suspect throwing objects from his vehicle near the South Batesville Exit. Authorities later searched and located money believed to have been taken in the robbery near the I-55/Hwy. 35 overpass. The suspect later told authorities that he threw both the money and the gun from his vehicle as he fled south.

Batesville Police Department units also waited at the South Batesville exits.

“Officers were there to keep him from coming into the city limits and trying to make sure he stayed on the interstate,” said Detective Paul Shivers.

Sheriff Dennis Darby said he was on Hwy. 35, leaving a service at Wells Funeral Home, when his department received a report from Senatobia about an armed robbery.

“I saw him when he went across the (I-55) bridge,” Darby said.

The sheriff said he sat close, making sure the suspect did not get off of the ramp.

With officers from the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Senatobia and Batesville Police Departments, Constable Jones, and Panola County Sheriff’s deputies in pursuit, the suspect’s vehicle was stopped when it struck “stop sticks” hurriedly placed in the roadway by Deputy Sheriff John Still near the South Batesville exit.

“He went on for about another mile then veered over on to the left side of the median,” Darby said.

Bennett was removed from the vehicle, taken into custody and transported to the Tate County Jail.

Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Panola County road crew workers with weed trimmers and mowers joined law enforcement officials, including two with canines, during their search for the objects thrown from the vehicle. They located the cash but have not yet located a .32 caliber handgun the suspect said he threw from his vehicle at the same time.

Batesville Police Department Detective Captain Paul Shivers said the search for the gun was ended around 4:30 p.m.

Bennett is being held in the Tate County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.