(Photo by Rachel Cox)

BELL COUNTY (August 10, 2012)--What started as a shoplifting call led to a high-speed chase that ended in a crash that left both the suspected shoplifter and another woman injured Friday afternoon.

The woman accused of attempting to elude police had to be freed from the wreckage of her car after the crash at the intersection of Farm-to-Market 439 and Sparta Road.

She and the 29-year-old woman driving the minivan, whose injuries were less serious, were both taken to local hospitals.

The shoplifting incident was reported at around 1:20 p.m. Friday at a local Dollar General Store,
Nolanville police Chief Gary Kent said.

Kent said he and other officers responded.

Kent said when he got to the scene he saw a woman getting into her car and leaving the store.

When he ordered her to stop, she drove toward him and almost ran him down, he said.

Kent said he jumped out of the way and called for backup.

Nolanville officers pursued the fleeing woman east on FM 439 to Sparta Road, where the woman’s car crashed into the minivan.

Central Bell County Fire and Rescue had to use hand tools to cut the suspected shoplifter from her wrecked car.

Officers searched along FM 439 after the chase for possible evidence from the shoplifting and recovered almost $100 worth of merchandise that had been taken from the store including DVDs and wheel rim cleaner, police said.