COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Coldwater Police say a wild car chase ended with a crash but there were no injuries during the incident on the city’s west side. It happened Wednesday night and included the suspect running away from an officer before finally being taken into custody.
Shortly before 9:00 p.m. Officer Suleiman Sumball, on routine patrol, pulled over a vehicle for a failure to yield violation after he said the car quickly peeled out of a retail store parking lot into traffic on U.S. 12 near Western Avenue. The woman behind the wheel of the 2000 Ford Focus pulled onto North Polk and stopped near Henry Street.
Sumball said she didn’t have a driver’s license, used a false name and refused when asked to get out of the car. According to the officer, she then sped away down Henry Street northbound for several blocks and jumped from the moving car at Orchard Street, where the Focus slammed into a utility pole. She fled on foot and Sumball said in the process tossed away a bag of suspected methamphetamine.
The woman was finally arrested hiding in a backyard, around a half hour after the chaotic situation all started.
36-year old Stephanie Nichols of Coldwater is facing numerous felony charges and is named on two unrelated Friend of the Court warrants. Nichols admitted to police she tried to outrun the patrol car because of the outstanding child support warrants.
She is scheduled for a District Court probable cause hearing June 29, 2017 with a preliminary exam set for July 5.
