TEMPLE (November 3, 2009)—An off-duty Temple police officer’s attempt to detain two women suspected of shoplifting at the Temple Mall led to a brief police pursuit and eventually two arrests, although the man who drove the getaway car remained at large Tuesday evening.

The officer who was on a security assignment at the Temple Dillard’s store spotted the two women at around 9 p.m. Monday.

He followed the women into the parking lot of the mall, where a man was at the wheel of a waiting car.

The officer detained one woman, but the other got in the car, which drove off.

A second officer arrived just as the driver pulled onto Loop 363 and tried to pull the car over.

But the driver sped up, police said, and the officer briefly gave chase, but broke off the pursuit on Highway 190 as the car headed toward Rogers.

Milam County sheriff’s deputies later found the vehicle abandoned with stolen merchandise still inside, police said.

Milam County deputies arrested the second woman later Monday night, police said.

The driver of the car, however, remains at large.

Police identified the woman detained at the mall as Dawanna Deoshae Harrison, 27, of Waco and the woman arrested in Milam County as Brandi Nichole Degrate, 24, of Waco.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about the driver of the car, who they think is also from Waco, to call the Temple Police Department at (254) 298-5500.