By Sophia Kazmi
Vallejo Times Herald
PLEASANTON, Calif. — A handcuffed woman led California Highway Patrol officers on a high-speed chase Monday in one of their own patrol cars on northbound Interstate 680 until she crashed in Pleasanton, officers said.
At about 3:30 p.m. a CHP officer tried to pull over an Acura Integra near the Stevens Creek Road off-ramp in Fremont. The Integra didn’t yield and a pursuit ensued with speeds topping off around 80 miles per hour, said CHP Officer Steve Creel.
The Integra exited on Calaveras Road and officers caused the car to spin out. The male driver and a female passenger, both in their late teens or early 20s, tried to get away on foot but officers arrested them.
The officers put the woman in a patrol car, and then drove over to assist in the arrest of the man, whom officers had shot with a Taser, Creel said. Left alone, the woman somehow got her handcuffed arms in front of her, moved from the back of the patrol car to the driver’s seat and sped away.
Officers pursued her through Sunol and Pleasanton at more than 100 mph, Creel said.
At about 4 p.m. the woman lost control as she tried to exit at the Stoneridge Drive off ramp and the patrol car overturned in the area between the off ramp and the freeway, Creel said. The woman was also shot with a Taser.
The man and the woman were taken to ValleyCare Medical Center in Pleasanton.
The chase and arrests closed the slow lane on northbound I-680 and backed up traffic.
The CHP is investigating how the woman was able to escape custody.
Copyright 2008 Vallejo Times Herald