VALDOSTA — Police stunned a knife-wielding armed robbery suspect after he tried to hold them at bay Friday morning, investigators reported.

Charles Escoffier, 34, was charged with armed robbery, with other charges pending against him, said Lt. Gene Bell of the Valdosta Police Department.

Police received a call that a man had approached a woman in a church parking lot at Valley and Toombs Street at 8:55 a.m. Friday.

“He came up behind the woman with a knife and forced her back into the vehicle,” Bell said. “He demanded the keys and tried to start the car.”

The woman jumped from the vehicle and began screaming.

The man attempted to walk away, but witnesses saw what was happening and chased him on foot, Bell said. When the man reached his own vehicle and tried to drive away, the witnesses pursued him to the 1100 block of Savannah Avenue.

Someone called 911 during the commotion, and police and Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office units swarmed toward Savannah.

At some point, the man crashed his vehicle and continued fleeing on foot. A woman in the 200 block of Williams Lane, off Savannah Avenue, called 911 and reported someone was trying to break into her house.

“Units arrived at Savannah,” Bell said. “He was still armed with the knife, and he wouldn’t drop it.”

It was then that Sheriff’s Office deputies used a Taser, Bell said.

Escoffier, who was taken to the hospital, didn’t appear to be injured from the Taser, Bell said. The suspect did complain during interviews that his chest hurt from hitting the vehicle’s steering column when his vehicle crashed, Bell said.

The detective credited witnesses and quick response from police and deputies with making the difference in the case. “The witnesses were right there, Johnny on the spot,” he said.