MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Target shopper said she found herself in the middle of a stand-off between police and an alleged shoplifter in the parking lot of the Colonial Road store Monday afternoon.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, was sitting in her car getting ready to go inside the store when she heard police yelling at someone and realized they were trying to get the woman parked in front of her out of her vehicle.

She said she tried to back out of her space to escape the commotion, but an officer told her to stay there so they could block in the suspect’s car.

She said the next thing she knew, the driver was backing into her car. She said her front bumper was hit five to six times.

Innocent bystander’s damaged car

“It was a game of bumper cars she was trying to play. I don’t know what her thought process was,” said the woman.

She said the driver kept going forward and in reverse, trying to get away from police.

“That kind of went on for a little bit, and then they gave me the okay to reverse out of there, and that’s when she kind of came peeling out and hitting them, and they stopped her from fleeing, but I had some nice damage to my bumper.”

Police took the driver, later identified as Latericka Berry, into custody. Another woman in the car with her, Alana Mckinnon, was also arrested.

Alana McKinnon (left), Latericka Berry (right)
Ford Fusion after it was stopped by police, McKinnon in handcuffs

Police said detectives were conducting an anti-theft operation at the Target when they saw Berry and McKinnon steal $276 worth of Fortnite toys from the store and get into a black Ford Fusion.

Detectives said they activated their lights and parked in front of the Fusion to stop Berry, and that’s when she backed into the other driver. They said Berry also hit multiple police cars and officers who were standing outside their vehicles.

The woman whose car was hit said she probably has a few thousand dollars worth of damage to her car but is glad no one was hurt.

“I was praying to God they weren’t gunshots. That was my biggest fear because they were holding guns,” she said.

Police said three children under the age of five were inside the car with Berry and McKinnon, but they were not injured.

Berry is charged with three counts of child abuse and neglect, four counts of aggravated assault, evading arrests, vandalism, and theft. McKinnon is charged with theft.