A woman who ran into a house with her car as she tried to give police the shake during a chase has been released on time-served but was forced to give up her driver license as part of her plea bargain.
The woman, Misty N. Arnold, 38, entered guilty pleas to charges of evading arrest and driving on a suspended license. She was directed to serve 41 days of an 11-month, 29-day sentence (time-served), pay $50 plus costs, perform 24 hours public service work, and lose her driving privileges.
Her sentence comes after McMinnville police officer Austin Wortman saw her driving on Smithville Highway without headlights early this year. The incident happened at 3 a.m.
According to the officer, Arnold pulled the Chevy she was driving into a parking lot and stopped. However, she didn’t wait for the officer to approach her window to ask for her license – which she did not have.
“The vehicle almost immediately pulled away at a high rate of speed,” Wortman recalled, noting the woman raced across Northgate Drive and then turned into Davis Lane, apparently not realizing it is a dead end. “She drove through a side yard and the rear of her truck struck a residence.”
Wortman called off his pursuit given the chances the fugitive was taking. He was able to get a good description of the woman before discontinuing the chase and put out a bulletin, telling other officers to be on the lookout for her. She was spotted a short time later, still behind the wheel of the Chevy. This time she was stopped by police Lt. Mark Mara.
“She admitted to driving the vehicle at the same time and in the same area where I attempted to stop the vehicle,” Wortman said, noting she stopped short of a confession. “However, she stated she did not remember police trying to stop her.”