A woman made a daring escape when she slipped out of her handcuffs and stole a police cruiser, leading officers on a high speed chase caught on dashboard and body cameras.
Toscha Sponsler, 33, from Texas, stole a patrol unit after she was arrested for alleged shoplifting.
According to Lufkin Police Department, as officers went through her bags of stolen goods, Sponsler removed her seat belt, slipped her cuffs and climbed through a window partition to the driver's seat.
That's when the chaos erupted. Sponsler led officers on a 23-minute, 160kmh chase that ended only after an officer used a manoeuvre to make her lose control of the vehicle.
Throughout the chase, officers could see her reaching for the officer's shotgun, which was fortunately locked. She was eventually arrested and charged with escape causing serious bodily injury/threat of a deadly weapon, aggravated assault against a public servant, possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest with a vehicle with a previous conviction, and unauthorised use of a vehicle.
Additional charges are pending.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 