Hospital Security Officer Carjacked
Memphis TN June 21 2017 A 23-year-old man has been arrested as a suspect in the carjacking of a security officer at Methodist University Hospital on Tuesday morning, police said.
Leslie Tate has been charged with carjacking and evading arrest.
Memphis police spokesman Sgt. Louis Brownlee said officers responded to a carjacking at 4:41 a.m. at the hospital at 1265 Union Avenue in Midtown.
Brownlee said the security officer told police that Tate walked into the parking garage on Eastmoreland and Claybrook looking lost and she asked if he needed any help.
“The suspect became aggressive and aggravated,” Brownlee said in an email. “The suspect then approached the victim and forced her out of the way and got into the driver’s seat and began to drive away.”
Brownlee said Tate fled in the security officer’s truck. Officers checked the area and found the truck in the parking lot of a corner store in the 1400 block of Elvis Presley.
Tate was in the driver’s seat and another man was standing near the door, police said. Both ran when officers approached. Tate was arrested in the backyard of a home in the 1400 block of Montgomery. No other arrest has been made.
According to court documents, Tate has been arrested previously on charges of theft of property, domestic assault, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, and aggravated criminal trespassing.
Methodist Healthcare released the following statement about the incident:
“The incident occurred when an employee of the contracted security firm patrolling the Methodist University Hospital parking garage briefly exited the patrol vehicle to speak with a person in the garage, leaving the keys in the ignition. We are pleased that the contractor’s vehicle has been recovered by the Memphis Police Department. We are working with the contracted security firm to review policies and procedures.”
Tate remains in jail under no bond.
