

Police on Wednesday released the video from the Ann Arbor gas station where a 22-year-old clerk took down a would-be-robber, knocking him unconscious earlier this month.

The Ann Arbor News requested and received the surveillance video from the Speedway, located 1300 Maple Road, as well as the police report of the incident.

Christina Borcea (left) and Frederick Coble

Frederick Coble, 49, and his girlfriend, Christina Maria Borcea, 48, were charged with armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery in the case and are set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing Thursday.

The video shows a man and a woman entering the gas station around 12:30 a.m. May 1. Coble and Borcea later told police they had been drinking alcohol and smoking crack cocaine and came to the gas station with the intention of stealing cigarettes.

The clerk is in the cooler behind the register when the man and woman walk in and begin plundering cigarettes from behind the register.

When the 22-year-old clerk walks out, the two pretend like they're going to pay for the numerous packs of cigarettes.

That is until the male suspect is seen coming at the 22-year-old with a pair of pliers.

But the 22-year-old sees him coming and takes him down. Hard.

So hard that the would-be robber was briefly incapacitated.

The 22-year-old fled the store to call police.

The video shows the woman then attempting to rouse her knocked-out partner, but when she can't, she digs into the still-open cash register, grabs fistfuls of bills and takes off running, dropping much of the cash on her way out.

Police found $142 in the rear of the store. There was still $80 missing from the till. Borcea later admitted to police she used that money to buy crack cocaine and heroin, according to the police report.

The video shows the knocked-out man regaining consciousness a few moments later and stumbling out the door.

A few days later, officers on patrol arrested Coble riding a bike near Dexter Avenue and Barber Street in Ann Arbor after recognizing him from the security video. He was on parole at the time. Coble asked if he could take the bike back to his girlfriend at the Arbor Landing Apartments before he was arrested, police said. Officers came with him and recognized Borcea from the surveillance video. She was also arrested.

They both confessed. The two are being held on $250,000 cash bonds.

John Counts covers crime and breaking news for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at johncounts@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter. Find all Washtenaw County crime stories here.