A Florida man is charged with second-degree robbery after he allegedly threatened a Publix employee with a Taser while fleeing the Atlanta Highway store with laundry detergent.

Philip Johnson, 25, of Jacksonville, Florida, was charged Wednesday before midnight in connection to an incident about 6:40 p.m. the same day.

Montgomery police Capt. Regina Duckett said that Johnson, during the commission of a theft, came in contact with an employee, produced a Taser and threatened to use it against an employee.

Johnson's charging documents say he and several other unknown suspects entered the Publix and then left without paying for several containers of Tide and Gain detergents.

The employee confronted the suspects as they were loading a white vehicle with the stolen merchandise, according to court records.

When Johnson pulled out the Taser and threatened to use it, several bystanders detained him as the other suspects fled the scene in the vehicle. Police arrested Johnson a short time later at the store, Duckett said.

Johnson remained in the Montgomery County Detention Facility with a $20,000 bond.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Kirsten Fiscus at 334-318-1798 or KFiscus@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KDFiscus