Stolen Police Car Chase
By Michelle Nicholson....2/10/03

24-year old Jessalynn Mae Harness of Shalimar was being picked
up Thursday on a violation of probation charge, had her hands
cuffed behind her back, but managed to get them in front of
her, jump into an Okaloosa County Investigator's unmarked car
and take off.

Charlie Morris, Okaloosa County Sheriff: "She nearly ran over 
the investigator when she left the scene, and for about an hour,
hour and a half, we've been out looking for this vehicle." 

Morris, in fact, finally spotted Harness in the Lovejoy Road
area. That started a chaotic, high speed chase.

Morris: "I don't think there's any doubt she's really cracked
out on something because she's... we're very fortunate we didn't
have anyone killed because that's the craziest thing I've seen
in my 25 years of police work, her driving. She nearly had
three head-on collisions." 

The chase ended on Lewis Turner Boulevard when Harness, with
lawmen all around, ran into a fire hydrant.

Morris: "Once we got her stopped, then she had the officer's
shotgun in her hands with a round in the chamber so it could
have gone bad, real quick. So we were very fortunate that
we got it resolved as fast as we did." 

Deputies later told Morris, Harness was starting to point the
weapon at him when one officer snatched it out of her hands.
She faces multiple felony charges.


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