Armed Woman in Escalade Leads Police on Wild Chase

San Angelo police, Tom Green County Sheriff’s Deputies, and the Texas DPS were engaged in a high-speed chase through the county early Saturday morning that ended in a crash west of the Sam’s Club just before 8 a.m.

Police learned that a woman, who reportedly was armed had returned to San Angelo from San Antonio early Friday evening. She drove around San Angelo’s streets seeking out police officers that would pursue her in a vehicle chase. Each time she tried, police backed off and disengaged for public safety reasons.

This cat and mouse game continued into the early morning hours.

That is when police located her on Bell Street. From there, she turned on Paint Rock Road and another chase ensued. The woman led police west on Paint Rock, south on S. Chadbourne St. and eventually to U.S. 277 southbound. Tom Green County Sheriff’s Deputies took over the pursuit as she departed the city limits at speeds clocked exceeding 100 mph.

Prior to Christoval, the woman pointed her Escalade westbound on FM 2335 as deputies, and by now, DPS, pursued her through the sleepy town of Knickerbocker and then northbound towards the Boy’s Ranch cutoff, FM 2116.

Road spikes were deployed across FM 2335 just north of the Boy’s Ranch cutoff, near the railroad tracks just before the U.S. 67 intersection. She didn’t disappoint, as she sped over them, slicing and dicing some of the Escalade’s tires. She may have avoided all of the spikes, as by the time she arrived back in the city limits, some of the wheels still had rubber on them.

From FM 2335, she turned north on U.S. 67, and headed back into the city.

Hurriedly, San Angelo police closed Sherwood Way just beyond Sam’s Club and waited for the Escalade, now traveling much slower on flat tires. Police deployed another trap with spikes across Sherwood Way near Southland Blvd.

With deputies behind her, and an awaiting armada of San Angelo police and their vehicles ahead of her, the woman drove her Escalade into the ditch near the Blvd. Apartments instead of meeting her fate head-on.

Police believed the woman was suicidal but perhaps, near the end of the ride, she had a change of heart.

Police said dispatch received a call in from husband Friday evening, informing them that his wife hadn’t showed up back home earlier that day, and that she wasn’t acting right.

All night long, the woman in the Escalade attempted to bait officers into a confrontation, and police said they would back off for public safety reasons.

WATCH SAPD deploy spike strips near Sam's Club on Sherwood Way:
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“She wasn’t acting dangerously unless a police officer was near her,” explained Officer Ali Shah at the crash scene. “We tried to get her into the county where there wasn’t many people around who could get hurt and try to stop her.”

Time and time again overnight, she would instigate a chase and disappear for several hours. “Probably went back out into the county,” Shah said.

Police found weapons inside the Cadillac Escalade during the crash scene investigation.

The woman was treated by paramedics at the scene and transported to an area hospital for treatment.

Police thought the injuries were not related just to the crash.