WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Police say a 22-year-old New Hampshire man who grabbed cash from a gas station clerk early Tuesday morning and fled the scene in a waiting vehicle was apprehended in Cornish.
Four Upper Valley police departments and New Hampshire state troopers were involved in the pursuit, officials said.
Vermont authorities have obtained an arrest warrant for Nickolas Kempton, of Manchester, who is currently being held in New Hampshire on alleged probation violations related to Tuesday’s events.
According to a news release from Hartford police, the incident started shortly after 1 a.m. when Kempton bought a cigar at the Station Market on Sykes Mountain Avenue in White River Junction shortly.
When the clerk was making change, Kempton allegedly “lunged over the counter and forcibly grabbed money out of the register” before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of cash into a waiting Honda Civic. The car had been reported stolen about an hour earlier, according to Lebanon police.
Within an hour, a Windsor police officer spotted the vehicle outside the Cumberland Farms convenience store in that town. When the officer tried to stop the vehicle, it “eluded the officer and fled into New Hampshire.”
The vehicle was located a short time later in Cornish, where Kempton was taken into custody.
Kempton is due in court in Newport on Thursday and is expected to be extradited to Vermont to answer to a charge of larceny from a person in connection to the alleged crime at Station Market.
Police identified the driver as Nickolas Kemp, 20, of Newport. Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten said additional charges from his department and in New Hampshire may be forthcoming.
Correction
Nickolas Kemp’s first name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story based on information from police.