VIDEO: Woman Speeds Off In Police Vehicle After Slipping Out Of Handcuffs
1010 WINS -- A suspected shoplifter led police on a high-speed chase in Texas after slipping out of her handcuffs and driving off in a police vehicle.
Toscha Sponsler, 33, was put in the back seat of the patrol car with a seatbelt on but while officers went through her bags of allegedly stolen goods she slipped off the restraints, climbed through the open 12-inch wide window partition into the driver's seat and took off.
She led officers on a 23-minute, 100-mile per hour chase which only stopped when a trooper caused her to lose control of the squad car.
The Lufkin Police Department released the dash cam video of the incident.
Sponsler was taken to the Angelina County Jail, where she remains on a collective $18,000 bond.
She has been charged with escape causing bodily injury/threat of a deadly weapon, aggravated assault against a public servant, possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest with a vehicle with a previous conviction and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Additional charges are pending.
After the pursuit, the police department changed the window partition to no longer open more than four inches.
The partition is normally closed and locked while a suspect is being transported, but police said it had been open at the time of the incident so that Sponsler could get more air conditioning in the back seat and allow officers to speak to her.