Daytona Beach robbery suspect punched, kicked K-9, police say

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Volusia County man is accused of ambushing a woman at an ATM was caught.

Investigators said the suspect robbed the woman as she was taking cash from an ATM on West International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach Wednesday night.

Police said Nickki Pierre, 21, forced the victim at gunpoint to withdraw $200 from the machine.

“I just got robbed at the Bank of America,” the victim told 911 dispatchers. “The man just ran down Frederick Avenue. He's got blue shorts and a gray sweatshirt."

Police and deputies tracked Pierre down nearby. That’s when Egor, a Sheriff's Office K-9, took hold of the suspect in a wooded area off Magnolia Avenue.

According to the report, Egor pulled Pierre out of hiding by his shorts, but Pierre punched and kicked the dog and even grabbed it by the neck as it tried to subdue him.

Pierre has been charged with striking an officer and resisting arrest with violence, along with the robbery charge.

“You do harm to one of those dogs, it's just like you're harming a police officer, a human being officer,” said Jimmie Flynt of the Daytona Beach Police Department.

Investigators said Egor wasn’t injured in the attack. Pierre suffered bites and a scrape on his head.

Pierre could face more charges if police link him to a robbery in which a woman was robbed at the same bank.  They believe he may also be behind another robbery at a Wells Fargo.

“We believe that he is responsible for at least one other and therefore maybe the ATM robberies will go down now that we have someone in custody,” said Flynt.

Pierre’s bond has been set at $60,000.

WFTV