MORGANTON, N.C. — A woman was arrested after ramming a patrol car, damaging a citizen's car and leading officers on a short chase, according to the Morganton Department of Public Safety.
The dramatic scene in Burke County started around 11:30 p.m. near Toner's Pub in Downtown Morganton on Saturday. Police were called to investigate a hit-and-run.
Someone had rear-ended a parked car and shoved it into a utility pole. The suspect did not stick around but police said they quickly found the suspect's car in an Ingle's parking lot on Carbon City Road.
Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old Cassandra Queen of Lexington.
The officers tried to use verbal de-escalation techniques to get Queen to cooperate but, they said it did not work. Officers believed Queen was impaired based on how she was acting and they suspected she had contraband in the car.
When they tried to arrest her, Queen refused to open her car and started the engine. She took off while officers were trying to break the window, police said.
"Queen put her car in reverse, ramming a City of Morganton Patrol Car and exiting between two other cars, leaving the parking lot. Queen continued west on Carbon City road, making a left onto Jamestown road," a police spokesperson said.
Police say the woman refused to stop for officers' blue lights and sirens as she continued to drive "erratically" on Jamestown Road toward Interstate 40. She made a left onto I-40 and kept driving east with officers in pursuit "ensuring the safety of others on the interstate," the spokesperson said.
The chase came to an end when a trooper with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol managed to pop Queen's tires with a spike strip, causing her car to come to a stop just past the Enola Road exit 104.
Queen’s license was already suspended for previous Driving While Impaired offenses.
She is now in police custody.
Queen was charged with several criminal offenses, including:
- Driving While Impaired
- Hit and Run, Leaving the Scene (property damage)
- 3 counts of Resisting a Public Officer
- Speeding to Elude Arrest
- Damage to Government Property
- Driving Left of Center
- Failing to Stop for a Stop Light
- Reckless Driving
Her car was seized by the State of North Carolina’s “Run & You’re Done” Law, which lets law enforcement seize a person's vehicle if they cause a car chase.
Queen is in the Burke County Jail under a $24,000 secured bond. Her first appearance in court is scheduled for Monday morning.