AUSTIN, Texas — A woman faces multiple felony charges after allegedly stealing a delivery driver’s vehicle, striking him in the head with a glass bottle and leading Austin police on a brief chase that ended when her vehicle crashed into a light pole Wednesday evening.
Akira Ahamad-Hickman, 19, was taken into custody near Rio Grande Street and West 4th Street following the pursuit, according to the Austin Police Department.
The incident began around 6:29 p.m. in the 600 block of West 7th Street, where a delivery driver had left his vehicle running while making a delivery at an apartment complex. When he returned, he found Ahamad-Hickman inside the vehicle attempting to drive away. As he tried to stop her, she “struck him in the head with a glass bottle” and fled the scene, police said.
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Officers responding to the area spotted the vehicle fleeing southbound on Rio Grande Street. The suspect ran a red light at West 6th Street and struck another vehicle but continued fleeing, police said. The vehicle ultimately lost control near Rio Grande Street and West 4th Street and struck a light pole.
Ahamad-Hickman was charged with robbery by assault, a second-degree felony; unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a state jail felony; evading arrest or detention in a vehicle, a state jail felony; leaving the scene of a crash; and resisting arrest.
The delivery driver was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the vehicle struck during the chase was not seriously injured.