VIDEO: 2012 High-Speed Chase Ends with Crash into Cop Shop

Six minutes, over 80 mph, alcohol and a stolen truck: San Angelo Police Officer Jeremy Cannady had been on patrol for roughly two years when he was met with that volatile combination on June 20, 2012, the date that marks his first initiated car chase. Nearly three years and four vehicle pursuits later, Cannady still ranks this one as the most dangerous he’s been involved in.

Parked in the old Albertson’s lot at 1852 W. Beauregard, Officer Cannady was writing a report that Thursday evening when all of a sudden a white dually sped away from the 7-11 nearby. Trailing behind the truck as it pulled off, a man screaming ‘No, no, no! Not my truck!” attempted to chase the vehicle on foot, slapping the sides of the dually with his hands as it took off southbound on Milton St.

“At that point I thought 'it’s at a gas station, he probably left it running as some people do and somebody took off in it,'” Cannady recalls. He activated his lights and sirens and gave chase to the vehicle, but soon realized the person behind the wheel had no intention of stopping.

For approximately the next six minutes, Cannady chased the truck at speeds of over 80 mph through the area surrounding 7-11, circling several streets on tight turns at high speeds and blowing though stop signs without regard for oncoming traffic. Cannady said he initially thought the driver of the vehicle might be preparing to jump out and run on foot since she stayed in such a small circuit, but eventually she turned onto Jackson and blasted past Beauregard headed north.[[{"fid":"5685","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]

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“There’s a lot of adrenaline right in the beginning, and about the first time she blew right past Beauregard heading northbound, I was like, ‘Wow. This is getting serious’. At the start you get that tunnel vision,” Cannady said.

“Once that initial, ‘oh man, this is serious’ came through my head…my vision opened completely back up and I calmed down. My predator drive wasn’t as strong at that point, I was relegated to more of a ‘I’m going to follow her’ as opposed to ‘I’m going to try and catch up and be right behind her so if she does jump out, I’m going to be right there.’”

Cannady slowed a bit to give himself more time to react to the driver ahead of him while she picked up speed, flying down the embankment over the access road and onto Houston Harte. Once on the Loop a second patrol unit entered the chase and took over as lead, while Cannady followed on the access road. At this time he said she reached top speed, clocking in at 104 mph.

“It felt like it had been about 15 minutes before the second unit arrived,” Cannady recalled. “I think it was when she went off the access road, she actually lost the left front tire. By the time we were back westbound on Beauregard she was down to just the axle.”

Although the driver had lost a tire, she continued on her rampage through town, heading first down Bryant and then west on Beauregard before circling back approximately 16 blocks later and heading back east toward downtown. Cannady said there were two points in the chase that were particularly scary to him, the first when she had sped through the stop sign on Jackson at Beauregard, the second where she turned toward downtown.

“She was doing every bit of 70-80 mph headed into downtown,” Cannady said. “We got lucky going down Beauregard. We had green lights all the way.”

As the dually raced down the street, the driver picked up speed. Moments later she crashed out at 401 E Beauregard, putting an unlikely end to the chase. Cannady supposed that she probably wasn’t immediately aware of which building she had crashed into.

“10-50 Admin,” Cannady called out on the radio, the police code for a motor vehicle accident and the location where it occurred. Officers of the San Angelo Police Department’s Charles Company swarmed out of the PD building and surround the truck now crashed into the side of it and the female driver was brought to the ground.

“I was extremely thankful that it…wasn’t the time of day where people would be there,” Cannady said. “I knew that there were other officers that were going to be there getting ready to go to work. There’s always people in and out of the police department and I was just thankful that nobody was in the area that she crashed into.”

The woman, 26-year-old Amanda Nicole Jeffreys, stumbled incoherently out of the vehicle and remained uncooperative until she was taken down and handcuffed. Cannady was able to confirm Jeffreys’ identity as she was being checked out by a doctor.

Jeffreys was bleeding from the crash and was transported to Shannon Medical Center where doctors determined that she had lacerated her liver. Cannady said she was determined to be under the influence of alcohol after the wreck.

According to the police report, the man that was chasing the truck was Kelly Peterson, who was heading to El Patio when he saw Jeffreys walking down the road nearby. Peterson told officers he’d stopped and offered her a ride, stating that he was “getting lonely” and asking “if she would keep him company for the night”.

Jeffreys had identified herself as Brittney, Peterson said, and was drunk to the point that he had to stop the vehicle on the way to 7-11 so she could vomit. He said she had asked him to buy her beer and to borrow money, at which point he drove to the 7-11 to withdraw $100 from the ATM. At that point, Jeffreys sped away in the vehicle.

According to her statement, Jeffreys said the man wanted to have sex with her, so she drove away in his vehicle when he got out to go to the ATM.

Jeffreys underwent surgery after the car chase and crash on June 20, 2012, and remained in the hospital for a period. She was charged with criminal mischief >= $20k, < $100k and for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Jeffreys plead guilty to both charges and received 10 years probation, plus $10,425 restitution for the criminal mischief charge and 200 days state jail confinement for stealing the truck.