Shoplifting suspect accused of fleeing police before crashing with children inside
Image: Forest Acres Police Department
Image: Forest Acres Police Department
Forest Acres, SC (WOLO) — The Forest Acres Police Department says a shoplifting suspect led them on a chase through the entire city before police say the female suspect crashed the car she was driving with her four children inside.
Police have identified her as Ashley Nicole Baker.
The Police Department was called to the Trenholm Plaza just before 6:30 Tuesday evening for what was being reported as a “shoplifting in progress”. During the early stages of their investigation FAPD says they determined that at least two businesses had been targeted. Police were able to get a description of the vehicle that was used in the alleged incidents from eyewitnesses.
Once they located Baker in the black Honda Pilot, police say they attempted to make a traffic stop, using both lights and sirens before she left the shopping center, but officers say she refused to stop and left heading down Forest Drive.
In an effort to continue running from authorities, police say she took them down several side streets before turning onto Trenholm Road. That’s when officials say she hit a Forest Acres police cruiser causing her to lose control of her car where it flipped over a brick barrier into a yard coming to rest on its hood in the front yard of a home. The officer inside of the car was not hurt, but officials say his patrol car was damaged.
“It is miraculous these four children walked away from this accident,”…“Incidents like these also endanger our officer’s lives. Rest assured we will be looking at potential charges that uphold the fullest extent of the law.”.
