Midland City man charged with armed robbery

A Midland City man is behind bars after he allegedly led multiple law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase around Ross Clark Circle after a reported armed robbery in the parking lot of a Dothan night club.

Dothan Police spokesman Thomas Davis said Kenneth Wayne Sumpter faces an armed robbery charge. Sumpter, 24, has been charged with first-degree robbery and is being held at the Houston County Jail on a $60,000 bond. Dothan police also charged him with reckless endangerment and resisting arrest, according to Dothan City Jail records.

Davis said police charged Sumpter with using a hammer during a robbery in the parking lot of Club Imagination around 2 a.m. Sunday. An unidentified man suffered minor injuries during the robbery after he was struck twice with the hammer.

“For some reason, he was unsuccessful in getting the wallet from the first victim,” Davis said. “Several hours later, he came back to the same parking lot.”

Davis said security at the club reported a second robbery in the parking lot, and that’s when police started to chase the suspect’s car.

Houston County Sheriff Andy Hughes said a sheriff’s patrol car became involved in the pursuit near the Golden Corral on Ross Clark Circle. Hughes said the pursuit exceeded speeds of 90 mph during which law enforcement chased the suspect’s car one and a half times around the Circle.

Hughes said the chase ended in the 2300 block of Ross Clark Circle after Deputy Josh Hughes used a PIT maneuver on the suspect’s car after several spike sticks set by Dothan police were unsuccessful.

“The deputy tapped the rear end of the suspect’s vehicle and spun him out,” Hughes said. “He ended up in the median.”