If the walls could talk was not a rhetorical question at one Starkville convenience store on Friday.
A man trying to rob a new convenience store in Starkville got into a tight spot Friday and was probably thankful to be apprehended.
James Rovenstine, 23, of Weir, was arrested and charged with burglary of a commercial building after trying to rob the new Sprint Mart on Highway 12 and New Light Road in Starkville.
Rovenstine had climbed onto the roof of the 24-hour convenience store and made his way into the attic when he fell and found himself stuck between a cooler and a brick wall. It was an area only about 10-inches wide, said store employee Jaleesa Pickens.
Employees at the Sprint Mart said when Rovenstine first fell, they thought it was thunder and went about working.
“Next thing you know, a couple minutes later they heard someone screaming,” Pickens said. “They couldn’t figure it out they went outside and then they heard it at the wall. He told them he was working with the construction crew and they had bricked the wall up around him.”
The employees called the Starkville Police Department, who arrived at 4:30 a.m. and with the help of the Starkville Fire Department freed Rovenstine about 30 minutes later.
Rovenstine, who was a regular at the store and had been there the day before, did not receive any injuries from the fall and is being held in the Oktibbeha County Jail.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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