VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A 29-year-old woman is being charged with Operating While Intoxicated, Child Endangerment, Assaulting a Police Officer, Resisting and Obstructing, Fleeing and Eluding, and Possessing Open Intoxicants after leading police on a chase in Van Buren County late Tuesday, all with her four-year-old daughter in the backseat of her vehicle.
Around midnight Tuesday the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office says Paw Paw police officers first attempted to stop the woman, who they believed was intoxicated, but she sped off.
Police say she traveled at speeds up to 70 mph northbound on M-40 for about five miles before they deployed stop sticks, causing her vehicle’s two front tires to deflate. Her vehicle eventually came to a stop about 100 feet west of the M-43 intersection.
The woman reportedly ran away on foot, losing her balance and falling to the ground.
The Sheriff’s Office says the woman’s license lists a Missouri address but it’s believed she has been living somewhere in Michigan. After being taken into custody she was examined by medical personnel after hitting her head on the asphalt during the fall. She later was taken to the Van Buren County Jail.
Her four-year-old daughter was unharmed and was picked up by a relative from the Kalamazoo area.
