HOLLAND, MI -- Holland cab driver Benjamin Mendoza clearly was angry after he said a robber put a gun to his head.

So when the thief jumped out of the cab with a $17 take, Mendoza made a quick decision.

"I was thinking about how to capture him," he said in a Holland courtroom Thursday, Oct. 2.

"I threw the cab in reverse and chased him around the parking lot," he said.

Mendoza described the events of Aug. 25 during a probable cause hearing for 20-year-old David Kelley, the man police caught later and charged with armed robbery and felony firearms.

He said at points during the chase, he "whipped (his cab) around a trash bin" and went "off-roading" in a grassy area.

Related: Man arrested for armed robbery of cab driver at Ottawa County apartment complex

"I'm still right on his tail, getting closer and closer," he said.

Then, he was forced to slam on the brakes because the robber went in between a bunch of kids and continued on.

Testimony from Mendoza and Ottawa County sheriff's detectives helped convince a judge Thursday to order Kelley to stand trial.

Mendoza was called to the 13000 block of Westwood Lane at Whispering Pine Apartments about 2:50 p.m. on the day of the incident.

He was told a fare needed a ride to Walmart.

When he arrived on Westwood Lane, a man jumped in the cab and, after asking if he could change a $100 bill, put a silver handgun to the back of his head.

"He said 'Give me the money, give me the money. I ain't playing with you. Give me the money,'" Mendoza recalled.

Police said they gathered statements from people at the apartment complex and were able to develop leads to arrest Kelley. Mendoza recalled the robber was wearing sunglasses with an American flag imprinted on the lenses.

Detectives discovered Kelley was living with his girlfriend at a Whispering Pines unit.

Police found a handgun in a closet at the apartment. It had a bullet in the chamber and four in the magazine.

E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunison