A man who police said choked a clerk while trying to rob a South Main convenience store Friday is now behind bars, said Statesboro Public Safety Director Wendell Turner.Around 4:55 a.m., a man approached a clerk in GATE Station while she was working. The man, later identified as Frank Smith Jr., 39, Lydia Lane, came up behind the woman and “put her in a choke hold and demanded money from her,” he said.But when a second employee came out of the cooler, Smith fled.Statesboro Police responded to the scene, and Detective Keith Holloway began an investigation, Turner said. Smith was arrested around 2:30 p.m. near his home.