Parolee charged with assaulting Sonic employees in robbery attempt

By KATE HOWARD • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • April 8, 2008 A parolee with a history of robbery convictions was arrested this morning on charges he and an accomplice assaulted employees of a Sonic restaurant in Antioch with a pipe in a robbery attempt. Lawrence Trent Taylor, 43, of Sugar Mill Drive was caught hiding in a dumpster after a search by helicopter and police dogs. An accomplice has not been caught. According to police, Taylor and another person ordered a Sonic employee into a dumpster about 12:35 a.m. outside the 1331 Bell Road restaurant, and punched a female employee who was checking the restrooms. A third employee inside the restaurant was hit with a metal pipe, but managed to put his assailant into a headlock and push him back toward the door. The employee retrieved a pistol from his car and fired shots at the man, police said. Police set up a perimeter around the restaurant, and a police dog tracked the suspect into a nearby strip mall. He was located through infrared heat detection inside a dumpster and was startled out of the dumpster by a SWAT team. Taylor was arrested and held in lieu of $300,000 bond and will likely by charged with a parole violation. Two employees were treated for head injuries.