Lancaster, CA - Woman Steals Sheriff's SUV - Screaming Over Radio - 2 Hour Televised Helicopter Pursuit
LANCASTER, Calif. -- An "unstable" 25-year-old woman being questioned by
deputies in a stolen-vehicle case apparently "panicked" and drove off in the
officer's black-and-white SUV in a Lancaster-area community on Thursday morning,
deputies said.
The woman stole the SUV at about 9:20 a.m., said sheriff's Sgt. Paul
Patterson of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau. The deputy left the engine
running while talking to the woman, and she got in and drove off, Patterson
said.
Patterson said a decision to leave a vehicle's engine running "depends on the
circumstances."
Shortly before 11 a.m. it appeared at least one, and possibly two, of the tires
on the vehicle had blown. A deputy said a spike strip that the vehicle drove
over earlier appeared at the time to be ineffective, but may have had more
impact than was initially realized.
Authorities followed her on the ground and via a helicopter, and managed to
contact her via the patrol vehicle's radio, Patterson said.
Deputy Oscar Butao said the woman is 25, "unstable" and was crying. He said she
was "screaming" into the vehicle's communications radio and had asked to
contact her boyfriend and mother.
Investigators were able to talk to the woman and calm her down, deputies said,
and crisis negotiators were trying to coax her into surrendering.
The woman was apprehended after about two hours in a Lancaster neighborhood near
13th Street and Ivesbrook Street. Deputies approached the vehicle and instructed
her to exit. When she did not immediately comply, deputies dragged the woman
from the SUV.