A 38-year-old man was arrested Tuesday evening after police said he stole two tip jars from a northeast Fresno restaurant, attacked an employee with a screwdriver and fought with officers who tried to detain him.

Fresno police identified the suspect as Lawrence Oliver Cuff.

Officers responded about 7:53 p.m. to a restaurant near Fresno Street and Friant Road after receiving a report that a tip jar had been stolen, according to the Fresno Police Department.

While officers were responding, they learned the suspect might be armed with a knife and had injured an employee with a screwdriver, elevating the reported theft to a robbery.

The employee told police Cuff took two tip jars from the restaurant’s front counter and began walking out the front door. The employee grabbed Cuff’s shirt, and Cuff grabbed the employee’s shirt and told him to let go, police said.

After the employee told Cuff to drop the money, Cuff raised a screwdriver over his head and made a stabbing motion toward the employee’s shoulder, according to police. The screwdriver slipped through Cuff’s hand and slightly scratched the employee’s right shoulder before Cuff left the area.

Cuff Found Near Friant Road Underpass

An officer later found a man matching the suspect’s description near the Friant Road underpass, police said.

Over the next 18 minutes, officers tried to detain Cuff, but police said he refused to comply, ran from officers, took a fighting stance, pushed officers, tried to grab equipment from an officer’s load-bearing vest and swung at officers.

Officers used Tasers on Cuff multiple times, but they had no effect, police said.

Cuff then ran to a shopping center near Nees and Blackstone avenues, where a weekly farmers market was underway and the area was heavily populated, according to police. Officers eventually detained him there.

Police said Cuff was positively identified during the investigation as the suspect in the restaurant robbery.

Cuff was booked into the Fresno County Jail on multiple charges, including robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting or delaying an officer.

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