Two Charged With Robbery Of Drunk Tourist Who Needed Ride In East Austin

EAST AUSTIN, TX -- Police accuse a man and woman in a case involving the robbery of an intoxicated man who accepted a ride from strangers at the city's entertainment district.

The victim was leaving a bar on East 6th Street on Sept. 11, according to court documents cited by CBS Austin in their report. The man was visiting from Chicago and searching for friends from whom he had become separated when a silver Mitsubishi pulled up alongside him, the station reported.

A woman in the car identified as Amy Rush, 21, offered him a ride, and the man offered $40 for the lift. But after riding in the car for about the distance of a block or so, the station reports, the man opted not to accept a ride from them after all.

But the driver, identified as Johnny Edmondson, insisted on being paid. Police said Edmondson reached into the man's pockets searching for cash before the victim pushed him away, the news station reported. Taht's when Edmondson is alleged to have punched the man in the face and head before and kicking him in the stomach, according to CBS Austin.

Edmondson is alleged to have taken the victim's wallet, iPhone, cash and money clip, police said.

Later that morning, at about 10 a.m., a police officer pulled the car over after the license plate matched records conveying past warrants. Inside the car, the police officer found an identification card and credit cards belonging to the victim from earlier.

This is when loyalties among those in the car during the robbery were torn asunder in the pressure of police questioning. Rush claimed she wasn't involved. But a third passenger in the car on the night in question, identified as Antwan Negron, said it was Rush who directed Edmondson to drive up to the victim to ask if he needed a ride, the news station reported.

What's more, Negron said he tried to pull Edmondson off the victim during the attack.

Both Rush and Edmondson were booked into the Travis County Jail. A check of Travis County Jail records shows Edmondson booked under a bail of $31,000 on three different charges: Robbery, with bail set at $25,000; possession of a controlled substance of less than one gram, $5,000; and possession of marijuana, $1,000.

Rush was booked under several charges as well, with collective bail set at $25,000.

>>> Read the full story on CBS Austin

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