(July 22, 2008)—A 20-year-old Killeen woman was in jail Tuesday facing evading arrest and child endangerment charges and her 2-year-old son was in the custody of Child Protective Services after a bizarre high-speed highway chase through Belton and Temple.
Tomar Dardy was in the Bell County Jail pending a review of the case by the Bell County District Attorney’s Office, the Belton Police Department said Tuesday.
The chase started after passers-by reported what they thought was a robbery Monday afternoon in Harker Heights.
What the witnesses actually saw, however, was an argument between a man and a woman who had stopped their car to switch positions.
The man got behind the wheel and headed east on Highway 190.
Meanwhile authorities broadcast a description of the car and Belton police officers spotted the vehicle a short time later, followed by Bell County sheriff’s deputies and a Department of Public Safety trooper.
The Belton officers were able to pull the vehicle over and took the male driver into custody, but as they did, the woman slid into the driver’s seat and sped off.
The ensuing pursuit along 190 and north on Interstate 35, which reached speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, ended when the car crashed into a creek in the interstate median.
Officers took the woman into custody and discovered that her 2-year-old was also in the car.
After the arrest, the woman somehow managed to slip out of her handcuffs and attempted to escape on foot.
Officers, however, chased her down.