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Dramatic Video Shows Texas Woman Leading Police On 100-MPH Chase With Baby In The Back Seat
Caitlyn Rodriguez was fleeing a traffic stop because of outstanding arrest warrants, according to reports.
A Texas mother with a baby on board led police on a high-speed chase, then, after crashing, grabbed the baby carrier out of the backseat and tried to get away by hopping in another car, authorities say.
Caitlyn Rodriguez, 29, drove her Mercedes-Benz SUV at speeds of more than 100 mph as she attempted to elude pursuing police officers before she was arrested in June, according to video released Friday by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
No reason was given as to why the video was released more than two months after the arrest.
Rodriguez fled a traffic stop, police say, because warrants for her arrest were outstanding, according to KSAT TV, the local ABC affiliate in San Antonio. She was charged with child endangerment, possession of a controlled substance and evading arrest, the news station reports.
Her baby was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, and she has remained in jail since, according to KSAT TV, which also reports Rodriguez has convictions for felony theft, forgery and prostitution as well as an arrest for aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury on her criminal record.
In the video, the SUV being driven by Rodriguez is seen swerving in and out of traffic on a highway and other thoroughfares, sometimes at speeds of more than 100mph. She narrowly avoids crashing several times.
At one point, she misses a law enforcement officer by feet as he is laying down a strip of road spikes intended to deflate her tires. She misses some of the spikes, but not all, and soon after at least one of her tires goes flat and she crashes into a pick-up truck stopped at a light.
That’s when Rodriguez coolly exits the smashed SUV, purse in hand, opens the rear door, grabs the car seat carrying her baby and makes a run for it on foot. Before long, though, she spots another SUV and hops in the backseat.
But Texas cops -- guided by the helicopter circling overhead -- catch up her, pull her from the car and cuff her. The video clip concludes with Rodriguez pinned to the asphalt by two arresting officials.
As of Tuesday morning, she was still being held at Bexar County Jail.
[Photo: Texas Dept. of Public Safety; Bexar County Jail]
