A woman is in jail after stealing a truck and taking police on a drawn-out chase before taking a break to stop at McDonald’s.
The incident unfolded around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday in Worcester, Massachusetts, when police were alerted that a woman had taken off with a restoration company’s pick-up truck. The GPS on the vehicle led authorities to pull it over shortly after with 38-year-old Johanna Gardell behind the wheel. However, as police tried to conduct the traffic stop, Gardell drove off.
According to a statement by Worcester P.D., Gardell drove into traffic with an officer following at a “low rate of speed” close behind her. The woman then increased her speed on Main Street and ran several red lights. At this point, the officer turned off his siren and lights and discontinued following her due to safety concerns. Gardell continued into oncoming traffic, hitting a van. When officers attempted to close in on her again, she put the vehicle in reverse, hitting one of the officers and briefly dragging them. Thankfully, the officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Growing hungry from the chaos, Gardell brought the chase to an abrupt end when she stopped in a McDonald’s drive-thru to order food. Officers again tried to apprehend her in the drive-thru, but the woman hit one of their cruisers. That crash caused her to go off-road, where the truck became stuck in mulch.
Gardell has now been hit with a slew of charges, including operating to endanger, leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury, failure to stop for police, two counts of assault and battery using a dangerous weapon, and use of a motor vehicle without authority.
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