71-year-old leads police on car chase

April 21, 2008 12:46 am

— By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com
It wasn’t exactly at high speeds, but a 71-year-old woman led lawmen on a pursuit Sunday through two states.
“Our average speed was around 40 mph,” said Deputy Jon Wilks of the Crawford County (Kan.) Sheriff’s Department. “At top speed, we may have gone 60 for a mile or so, but that was it.”
After allegedly attacking a deputy, the woman was arrested and taken into custody on several charges, including battery on a law-enforcement officer.
Alice Elsie Hays, 71, formerly of Pittsburg, Kan., was driving a gold Saturn vehicle on Sunday. Her current address was not available Sunday night.
At 4:12 p.m., Carl Junction police reportedly noticed that she was driving erratically while heading north on Highway 171.
Officials with the Carl Junction Police Department were not available for comment Sunday.
Crawford County deputies picked up the pursuit at the state line, but they didn’t attempt to pull the woman over until after she drove through Pittsburg on Broadway. She was not driving erratically at that time, Wilks said.
“When we ran her license, it came back with a Pittsburg address,” Wilks said. “So we were going to follow her home and see if she was OK.”
When the woman kept driving past the address listed on her license, deputies flipped on their lights and attempted to pull her over, Wilks said. But she evaded two blocking attempts, and managed to drive north through Frontenac, Franklin and Arma along U.S. Highway 69.
Her car eventually was stopped a half-mile south of the Crawford-Bourbon county line. Deputies used “stop sticks” to deflate one of her tires.
Wilks said that when he approached, Hays kicked him. She was restrained and taken into custody. No one was injured, and no damage was reported in the chase, except for Hays’ deflated tire.
As of Sunday night, she was in the custody of a Joplin agency for evaluation, Wilks said.