Phone purchase turns to robbery

Frightening moments for a Yuma resident as they tried to buy a phone they found online. Police say the man met three people near the Jack N the Box on 4th Avenue near 1st street Tuesday afternoon. The man then became a victim. “They wanted to see the money when he showed the money they took the money and took of towards the river”, said Sgt Lori Franklin with the Yuma Police Department. Police say all three are suspects in this case, two 17 year olds and an 18 year old identified as Malik Slaughter. Police say Slaughter and the other two ran from the scene on foot, but the victim wasn’t going to let them get away that easy… “He took off to follow the suspects and phoned the police”, said Sgt. Franklin. And when police arrived on scene they almost caught the suspects… “So when we got there they actually saw the suspects swimming across the river so they notified dispatch and they called California”, said Sgt. Franklin. The Imperial County Sheriff’s Office was able to catch the suspected robbers. The 17 year olds are now awaiting extradition back to Arizona but Slaughter, for unknown reasons, had to be taken back to Yuma in an ambulance where YPD was waiting for him. “The crime happened in Arizona so YPD made the arrest when he was back in the hospital and he was booked into jail”, said Sgt. Franklin.