SAVANNAH – Two men, including one from Effingham, were arrested Thursday after they robbed a woman and led officers on a chase, according to the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department.

Michael Lamar Dias, 36, of Savannah and Antwan Jamel Dennard, 20, of Rincon were arrested after the pickup truck they had used to flee the robbery scene stopped in the yard of a house and they led officers on a foot chase across two blocks, according to Julian Miller of the SCMPD.

Dias was jailed on charges including armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and fleeing to elude. Dennard was charged with armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle and obstruction by fleeing.

Officers responded to a report that a woman’s purse was stolen around 12:20 p.m. in the 1100 block of Eisenhower Drive. One of the suspects demanded the woman’s car but she refused to hand over her keys, according to the SCMPD.

“One of the suspects walked up to her and said something along the lines of, ‘I’m taking your car,’” Miller said. “She wasn’t going to do it.”

When the woman wouldn’t give up her car keys, the suspect grabbed her purse. He and the other suspect sped away in a pickup that belonged to one of the men, Miller said.

Patrol officers, joined by detectives, crime suppression unit and canine unit officers, pursued the pickup across town to east Savannah. The suspects abandoned the truck on the 2300 block of Bolling Street as officers blanketed the area.

“They pretty well saturated the neighborhood,” Miller said.

The two men were caught on Mississippi Avenue after a brief foot chase. Dias lives near the area where he and Dennard were apprehended.

Items taken in the robbery and two weapons were recovered, Miller said. 

Detectives continue to investigate.