Authorities said a 37-year-old Jackson woman driving a Dodge Caravan intentionally rammed vehicles in both Jefferson and St. Louis counties before she struck a St. Louis County Police cruiser and was arrested.
The woman reportedly began running into vehicles at about 2 p.m. May 8 around Vogel and Miller roads just outside of Arnold. At about 2:15 p.m., she allegedly ran into a 2017 Toyota Prius on Old Lemay Ferry Road near Pomme Road, Arnold Police reported.
A 60-year-old St. Louis woman who was driving the Prius called Arnold Police, and an officer met her in the parking lot outside the Lowe’s store in the Arnold Commons complex, Arnold Police reported.
The van that collided with the Prius turned onto Church Road after the accident and reportedly hit another vehicle on Hwy. 141 near Hwy. 21 just outside the Arnold city limits. The woman then proceeded north on Hwy. 21 into St. Louis County, where the highway turns into Tesson Ferry Road, the report said.
At about 2:30 p.m., the van struck a St. Louis County Police vehicle from behind on Tesson Ferry Road near Walden Ridge Drive. The St. Louis County Police officer was responding to the area for a careless and imprudent driver and was not injured in the collision. However, the St. Louis County Police cruiser was inoperable after the accident, a St. Louis County Police spokeswoman said.
After the collision with the police vehicle, the Jackson woman got out of the van and attempted to run, but she was stopped and arrested by St. Louis County Police officers, the department’s spokeswoman said.
Arnold Police reported that after the Jackson woman was arrested, she screamed, “I need suicide right now. I need someone to shoot me. I am begging someone to shoot me right now. My mother sold me to Elon Musk.”
The woman was transported by Mehlville Ambulance to Mercy Hospital South in south St. Louis County for evaluation, police reported.
Arnold Police will seek a charge against the woman through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for second-degree assault, Cpl. Brett Ackermann said.