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Anthony Davis, Kinzy Gonzalez, and Clinton Steele were all headed to trial for robbing the woman last April for gas money, then dragging her with their car when she tried to get it back.
The victim “turned out to be tougher than they thought,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Dyanne Lluch said in court in Hackensack yesterday.
And although the woman sustained very minor injuries, she said, the potential for serious harm was great.
Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian said the three must serve 85% of their plea-bargained sentences under the state’s No Early Release Act — a month shy of 3½ years — due to the violent nature of the crime.
Davis, 24, said Steele was behind the wheel when the three drove to New Jersey that day.
“They asked me if I had any cash and I said no, even though I had money,” he told Jerejian.
So they looked for someone to rob.
Soon after, he said, they saw the woman getting into her car, her handbag on the roof.
Gonzalez, 21, who was riding in the back seat, jumped out and grabbed the purse, then got back in.
But the victim chased her and opened their car door, Davis said.
Steele hit the gas, carrying the victim part of the way before she was thrown to her knees, he said.
“She tried to hang onto the car, and the car kept going,” Davis said. “I took the purse and took money out of it and used it to buy gas.”
“Did you see the lady chasing Kinzy fall?” asked his lawyer, defense attorney Diane D’Alessandro.
“Yes,” Davis replied.
Gonzalez, in turn, told Jerejian that the woman was injured because she refused to let go of the bag.
Steele, who turns 25 on Monday, said he wasn’t part of the plan but realized “there was a person holding on to the car on the other side.” Still, he drove away, he said, risking injury to her.
Jerejian scheduled sentencing for all three on March 28.
All remained held in the Bergen County Jail — Davis and Steele each on $125,000 bail and Gonzalez on $75,000 bail — until then.
STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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