Woman Takes Cop Car On Joyride After Escaping Handcuffs

A Texas woman was arrested for shoplifting but then managed to escape from police custody and steal an officer’s car during an arrest, according to Lufkin Police Department footage.

They arrested 33-year-old Toscha Sponsler over the weekend after coming to an Ulta Beauty store to deal with a potential shoplifter, local news Fox 10 reported.

The officer placed her in the backseat of the car in handcuffs, but when the officers moved to look through the bags Sponsler had to check what she had stolen, Sponsler unbuckled herself, somehow maneuvered herself out of her handcuffs and jumped in the front seat of the car.

Sponsler then proceeded to lead officers on a twenty-three-minute chase as she drove up to 100 miles per hour. She also repeatedly tried to take out a shotgun that was attached to the car. Luckily, officers were eventually able to stop her by using a pursuit intervention technique maneuver. Sponsler now faces charges of escape causing serious bodily injury/threat of a deadly weapon, aggravated assault against a public servant and possession of a controlled substance among other charges.

The Department said on Tuesday it installed a screw in all marked units that prevents the window partition from opening more than four inches.