Police Officer Questions Woman With No Shoes On Having An Episode When She Darts For His Cruiser, Takes Off, Crashes

VELDA VILLAGE HILLS, Mo. — There is little traffic on Scharell Houston's tree-lined street in north St. Louis County. It's the kind of place where neighbors know each other, not one — she said — where someone would expect to see a suspect slip past police and steal their patrol car. But that is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon.

Houston said a woman was walking barefoot down Capehart Drive, reportedly following some neighborhood kids from a market about half a mile away. Then, Houston said, the woman started following her.

"She tried to follow me into my house. So once I realized that, I pushed off the front porch and said, 'You got to go back to where you came from,'" Houston said.

North County Police Cooperative officers got a call about a woman suffering from mental issues and possible substance abuse around 1 p.m.

Houston said the officers spent 10 to 20 minutes talking with the woman, telling her they were not arresting her but needed information to take her home.

In just a few moments, everything changed.

"She just took off running up the street like she was going to take off running, but then she made a quick U-turn and just hopped into the police car and just took off," Houston said.

Houston said police tried to stop the woman but she was able to drive up the hill where she hit a tree and bailed from the driver's seat. For the next few seconds, the car coasts backward before crashing into a second tree.

A cellphone video posted online shows the whole encounter, while that second tree holds evidence of its own. Twenty-four hours later, there are still paint chips hanging in the tree bark and broken plastic shards on the ground.

The woman involved is being treated at a local hospital. She will be charged with stealing a motor vehicle and 1st-degree property damage, though Martin says it's possible she would be eligible for some of the county's diversion programs.