A 54-year-old Oxford woman, who tested positive for crack cocaine, allegedly broke into a downtown Oxford restaurant early Friday morning, then fled the scene and led police on a high-speed chase through the village and along M-24.
The chase ended with the suspect’s vehicle rear-ending a sheriff’s patrol car near Clarkston Road in Orion.
Oxford Village Police Chief Mike Neymanowski said he has submitted charges to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office against the woman including breaking and entering at Pat’s Place restaurant (29 S. Washington St.) and fleeing and eluding police.
As of Tuesday, the chief said the charges are still under review by the prosecutor and no arrest warrants had been issued.
The story begins shortly after 1 a.m. Sept. 4 when an Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy driving northbound on S. Washington St. observed the suspect allegedly breaking the 30-inch X 40-inch plate glass window on the south side of Pat’s Place.
The deputy parked his vehicle in front of restaurant, but as he started to exit it, the sheriff’s report stated the woman ran toward the southwest parking lot.
The deputy pursued the suspect on foot and caught up to her as she was starting her 2001 Chevy S-10 pick-up truck.
Reaching into the driver side window (which was half open), the deputy grasped for the ignition.
However, the woman had already started to shift into gear while the deputy’s left arm was still inside the truck. She shifted into drive and accelerated, pulling the deputy along with the vehicle, the report stated.
The deputy managed to break free and radioed for backup.
Another sheriff’s unit responded to the call and spotted the suspect’s truck on Pocahontas Trail approaching Pontiac St., the report stated.
The woman turned north on Pontiac, then east on Park St. At that point, the sheriff’s unit activated its emergency lights and siren, signaling for the suspect to stop.
The suspect accelerated and drove past Hovey St. to Mechanic St., turned south on Mechanic, west on Pocahontas and then north again on Pontiac.
At this point, an Oxford Village Police unit joined the pursuit on Pontiac.
The suspect continued north on Pontiac to W. Burdick, then turned east and headed to Washington St. (M-24) and turned south.
The woman continued south on M-24 until turning west onto Minnetonka St., where she lost control of her vehicle, running off the left side of the street and striking a fire hydrant.
After striking the fire hydrant, she re-entered Minnetonka, turned into the driveway of Tom’s Hardware (558 S. Lapeer Rd.), drove through the parking lot and re-entered M-24 heading southbound.
The suspect allegedly continued to flee southbound until her truck became trapped between two sheriff’s patrol cars on M-24, just north of Clarkston Road in Orion Township. Using their patrol cars, deputies forced her vehicle to the side of the road.
However, before coming to a complete stop, the suspects’s vehicle crashed into the patrol unit in front of her.
During the pursuit, the sheriff’s report noted the woman was traveling at approximately 60 miles per hour through residential areas and reached speeds in excess of 95 miles per hour on M-24. She also disregarded many stop signs and traffic signals, the report stated.
Once stopped, the report stated the suspect would not exit her vehicle after being repeatedly ordered to by officers.
A deputy then broke the glass on her driver side window, forcibly removed the suspect from the vehicle and took her into custody.
The woman was transported to the village police station for processing, but was reported to be in an “unresponsive state.”
Oxford Fire/EMS personnel were called to the station to examine the suspect. She was then transported by ambulance to POH Medical Center in Pontiac.
The doctors at POH stated the woman had to be hospitalized for “two days if not longer for treatment,” the report stated.
Doctors informed police that the suspect tested postive for cocaine in her system.
The sheriff’s report stated the woman told a deputy “she had smoked 5 rocks of crack tonight.”
A crack pipe and “pusher steel rod” (another article of drug paraphanilia) were recovered from the suspect’s vehicle by deputies, the report stated.
On Tuesday, village Police Chief Mike Neymanowski said the suspect was transferred from the hospital to a drug rehabilitation facility.
Back at the scene of alleged crime, village police recovered a 6-inch piece of steel pipe about 60 feet from the broken window (which is believed to be the object the suspect allegedly used to break the glass) and a five-gallon plastic bucket at the foot of the broken window.
The sheriff’s deputy had observed the woman standing on a bucket while allegedly breaking the window, according to the village report.
A piece of broken glass with blood on it was also recovered from the crime scene.
Village Police were informed by the restaurant’s former owner, Pat Fitchena, that the suspect was a former employee, who was fired for theft last year.
An interior check of Pat’s Place revealed that nothing was disturbed.
“It was apparent that the suspect did not have time to enter the business,” the report stated.
Police discovered the woman is wanted in Georgia on two probation violation warrants. Georgia law enforcement agencies were notified and will not extradite, the report stated.