HOUSTON — The teen accused of seriously hurting a woman when he picked her up and slammed her to the ground during a robbery is now facing another charge unrelated to the body-slamming incident.
According to court documents, Joseph Harrell was recently charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon for an incident that happened in January 2023. The robbery involving the woman being bodyslammed happened a few weeks later.
Details of the January robbery weren't given, but court documents read that Harrell used a deadly weapon while committing theft.
Woman body slammed during robbery
The day before Valentine's Day 2023, Nhung Truong went to a Bank of America to get some cash for a trip she was planning on taking. After leaving the bank, she made her way to a shopping center on Bellaire Boulevard just inside Beltway 8 where she was allegedly followed by Harrell and 19-year-old Zy’Nika Woods.
HPD detective Tyruls Fontenot said Truong was walking in front of the shopping center when Harrell got out of a car that Woods was driving and tussled with Troung for her purse.
After all of her belongings fell to the ground, Fontenot said Harrell picked up what he thought was the money and started running away. When he realized he didn't have the money, he went back to Troung, picked her up and slammed her to the ground, according to HPD.
He then picked up the envelope with the money and ran back to the getaway car that Woods was driving, Fontenot said.
The entire incident was caught on a surveillance camera. Watch below.
Troung suffered serious injuries from the body slam. Fontenot said she was even unconscious for a while before being taken to the hospital.
Fontenot said the minute the Houston Police Department was notified about what happened, detectives started investigating. Detectives were able to find surveillance video, which Fontenot noted was vital to solving this crime.
What led to the arrests
With the help of surveillance cameras, police said they were able to get the license plate of Harrell and Woods' vehicle and later learned Woods was the driver.
Fontenot said she matched the description of the woman seen in the surveillance videos.
She was eventually detained for a traffic violation and interviewed by investigators. Fontenot said she confessed to taking part in the robbery and confessed to Harrell being involved as well.
After confirming Harrell was the other person involved in the robbery, investigators said they arrested him for a warrant on a separate aggravated assault case. He was interviewed and also confessed to taking part in the robbery, Fontenot said.
As of Thursday, Harrell remains in jail on a $250,000 bond.
His next court date is set for June.
