Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies say that three men pistol-whipped a teenager and took his teeth jewelry, commonly known as grill.
The robbery occurred about 1:30 a.m. Sunday near Elk Grove Florin Road and Gerber Road. Deputies said three young men approached the 17-year-old who was seated in a vehicle.
One of the robbers used a handgun to repeatedly strike the teen in the head. The suspects then took the teen's cash and "gold grill," according to a sheriff's department watch summary.
A deputy in a marked patrol car somehow became aware of the robbery and attempted to stop the suspects using his lights and siren, but the driver of the getaway car refused to pull over. The fleeing car sped through a stop sign and into an oncoming traffic lane.
Eventually, the car stopped and deputies were able to arrest one of the suspects. Lonnell Roberson, 19, was booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of robbery and evading police.
The handgun and grillwork were recovered by deputies after they were dropped by one of the robbers as he fled.
Grills are removable, decorative metal frames that are snapped over teeth.
Sometimes studded with jewels, grills were made popular by hip-hop artists.
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