Woman Bails Out During Police Chase

Faline · #1 01-26-2012, 08:07 AM

Quote:

A trooper's stop-sticks ended a chase Friday that covered more than 10-miles with speeds topping 80 mph.

The driver was a woman fleeing from a deputy who was trying to serve civil papers.

Alexandra Osteyee-Hoffman, 28, was charged with felony fleeing to elude, failing to heed lights and sirens, failure to yield, driving left of center, failure to maintain lane control, injury to personal property, reckless driving to endanger, speeding and three counts of resisting a public officer, according to a Burke County Sheriff's Office press release.

The chase started around 9 a.m. Friday.

A deputy was at 207 Henredon Road to serve civil papers on Osteyee-Hoffman, according to the release. He tried to approach a vehicle that he believed was hers when the car sped away from the deputy.

The officer chased the vehicle to Burkemont Avenue, and the car stopped at Burkemont's intersection with Fleming Drive.

Police tried to get the woman to exit the vehicle and she tried to speed off again, the release said. She turned around and drove south down Burkemont, then turned right onto Hopewell Road.

She turned around and came back down Hopewell toward Burkemont.

Burke Sheriff Steve Whisenant said she managed to dodge stop-sticks on Hopewell before turning right down Burkemont before getting on Interstate 40 heading west.

A trooper with the N.C. State Highway Patrol passed her while she was doing 80 mph in a 65 mph zone, Whisenant said. The trooper threw out stop sticks in front of her car, which gave her no time to dodge.

The sticks popped one of her tires and she was forced to stop near mile marker 97.

Osteyee-Hoffman tried to run on foot, the release said, but officers caught her.

Bond was set at $8,500 secured. Court dates were set for Monday and March 31.

Morganton Public Safety and the Burke County Narcotics Task Force also joined the chase.

Osteyee-Hoffman's car was also confiscated under the "Run and You're Done" law, according to Whisenant. The new law lets officers seize and sell cars used to flee from police.

Whisenant says this is the county's first seizure under the law, which went into effect Dec. 1.

Whisenant says his top concern during a chase is safety.

"You have to make a decision on how to get a person stopped," he said.

That choice has to keep the suspect driver from hurting a bystander or themselves, he said.