Mar 14, 2008 9:00 am US/Central
Grandmother Leads Police On Lengthy Car Chase
Celia Delacruz thought the man who pulled her car over early Tuesday morning was a fake cop, even after he showed her his badge and gave her his name.
"I was still afraid to get out of my car because it was dark," said Delacruz, a 64-year old grandmother and native of Fort Worth.
Police say the officer pulled her over near her house on Carelton Avenue near Camp Bowie because she was driving very slow and erratically. With red and blue lights flashing behind her, she pulled over and called 911 from inside her car.
"That is a Fort Worth police officer ma'am," said the dispatcher. "He's asking you to get out of your vehicle and that's what you need to do."
Dash-cam video from the officer's patrol car shows the officer call for back-up. After two more officers arrived in their patrol cars, Delacruz agreed to get out of her car, all the while, still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. After a few moments, Delacruz gets back into her car and speeds away from the officers, who get into their patrol cars and pursue her car.
"Clearly it appears her intent was she didn't want to stop for the police," said Lt. Paul Henderson of the Fort Worth Police Department. The video shows the chase leading officers along East Crestline, to Camp Bowie and eventually south onto University Drive.
Delacruz remained on the phone with the 911 dispatcher.
DISPATCHER
: "Ma'am, you're going to need to stop the car and get out."
DELACRUZ
: "No. They're trying to hurt me, they told me that."
DISPATCHER
: "No they're not going to hurt you. They need you to stop; they have Air-One out looking for you. You need to stop."
The dash-cam video shows Delacruz running several stop signs and stoplights. The chase ends at University Drive and I-30 after Delacruz swerves to miss a set of tire spikes set out by police. She slows to a stop at the second set of spikes, where officers pull her from the car and arrest her.
"I wanted to drive someplace else where there were people," she told CBS 11 News from inside the Mansfield Jail. Delacruz now faces a felony charge of evading arrest.
Lt. Henderson says it is reasonable to be suspicious if you think an officer is not what they appear to be, but after calling 911 and confirming an officer's identity, "There is no fake 911," he says. "At that point you're with legitimate police and anything you do beyond that is evasive in nature and you'll be arrested for it."
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