Chubbuck, ID - 18 YR Old Female Shoplifter in Handcuffs Steals Police Car from Walmart - 120 MPH 2 City Chase - Felony Charges
Teenager Steals Police Car, Leads Police on
Chase Through Two Counties
July 23, 2007 04:53 PM PDT
Teenager Steals Police Car
A Fort Hall teenager who just celebrated her 18th birthday is behind bars
after she got out of a pair of handcuffs and stole a Chubbuck police cruiser.
"She was able to manipulate the handcuffs underneath her feet getting the
handcuffs in front of her. When she did that, she removed the left handcuff."
Says Lt. Bill Guiberson with the Chubbuck Police Department.
Just after midnight Monday morning, Chubbuck Police responded to Wal-Mart on
Yellowstone Avenue for a report of a possible theft. When they arrived, three
people were placed into custody for various misdemeanor charges, one of the
three arrested was 18-year-old Marla Plentywounds from Fort Hall.
Plentywounds was handcuffed and put in the back of a Chubbuck police cruiser
and that's when things started to go downhill. She managed to remove one of her
handcuffs, climbing through the small security screen in the cruiser.
"She was a smaller person so she was able to remove the handcuffs from her
wrists fairly easy. She got into the driver's seat and we had officers on scene
so as soon as she fled the area, officers began to chase her." Says Guiberson.
Plentywounds fled the scene in the marked cruiser and headed north through
Chubbuck into Fort Hall. The officer's cruiser who was stolen is back on the
job, because he followed protocol. "They were involved in an investigation
dealing with four separate individuals, three of which were in custody, so they
had a lot of things going on at that time and securing prisoners in a vehicle is
a standard procedure in that type of case." Says Guiberson.
During the pursuit, Plentywounds got up to speeds of 120 miles-per-hour and
hit another police vehicle. Just before 1:30 Monday morning, Fort Hall
police and a Bingham County Sheriff's Deputy spiked the tires on the stolen
cruiser in the area of Sheepskin Road and Bronco Road. Plentywounds escaped
again and fled on foot and was caught a short time later.
"Pursuits are a very dangerous event in law enforcement. The thing that people
need to realize that even think about becoming involved in a pursuit is that
people can be seriously injured or killed in any type of pursuit." Says
Guiberson.
The Chubbuck police department doesn't have anti-theft
devices in their cruisers, but because of the Monday morning events, the
department is looking into changing that policy. Plentywounds
has been charged with felony eluding an officer, grand theft and DUI. She was
also arrested on an outstanding warrant out of Bannock County. Plentywounds has
a preliminary hearing set for august 6th. She is in jail tonight on $30,000
bond.