Johnathan Brett Krouse, 34, of 4491 Cooper Lake road in Winston-Salem, was arrested Thursday afternoon at approximately 2 p.m. following a police chase that ended with the suspect leaping from his vehicle as it traveled across an emergency lane on U.S. Highway 52. Krouse took off into the woods as his abandoned car slammed into a tree. Deputies continued to pursue Krouse on foot and eventually apprehended the suspect a short time later.
“There’s a gravel cross-over on Highway 52 and he whipped into that and tried to head the other direction,” Davidson County Sheriff David Grice said. “He jumped out of the car while it was rolling and ran across the southbound lane while his car was also traveling across the road. The car rolled into the woods and our deputies managed to subdue him and charge him with traffic violations. At that point, we weren’t quite ready to make any charges regarding the robbery, but we did later on.”
Krouse was wanted in connection to a robbery at the NewBridge Bank in Arcadia at the intersection of Old Salisbury Road and Highway 150 on Wednesday. Grice said Krouse walked into the bank wearing a ski mask and told everybody to lay down on the floor. He demanded money and made off with cash from teller drawers. Officers with the DCSO breaking and entering task force attempted to stop a vehicle on Thursday matching the description from one believed to be involved in the robbery, but the driver refused to pull over for police. A chase ensued on Highway 150 traveling north before Krouse attempted to cross into the southbound lane via an emergency vehicle crossing. Once police arrested Krouse, they discovered evidence linking him to the NewBridge robbery. He was charged with felony common law robbery, felony speeding to elude arrest, failure to heed light or siren and reckless driving to endanger. Krouse was issued a $500,000 secured bond. Deputies took Krouse to the hospital after the suspect said he had been doing heroin and cocaine and was out of breath, Grice said.
“Detectives went out Wednesday night and started developing some leads,” said Grice. “During the process of following up on those leads Thursday, detectives found the suspect had rented a car with Georgia tags on it. We had officers trying to locate this car in the northern part of the county. When they did and tried to stop him, the suspect took off down Old Salisbury Road and started darting in and out of traffic.”
During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered Krouse was aided by two suspects, who also were arrested on Thursday. Tonya Marie Sutton, 28, of 5186 High Point Road in High Point, and Jerry Gray Hutchens, 35, of 5186 High Point Road in High Point, were charged with felony accessory after the fact to robbery and issued $250,000 secured bonds. The trio will appear in court on Sept. 15.
“We are alleging they assisted [Krouse] with the robbery by picking him up afterwards,” Grice said. “The robbery was called in at 2:31 p.m. and our officers arrived at 2:33 p.m. It wasn’t that far down the street but deputies had to manipulate traffic. We probably could’ve been there in a minute.”
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 888-3578, or duke@tvilletimes.com.
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