A woman is lucky to be alive after she led police officers on a wild chase in South Carolina before being ejected from her vehicle while it was rolling over.
Florence County Sheriff’s Office released dashcam footage of the July 12 chase that went through a trailer park and narrowly missed bewildered bystanders.
The woman behind the wheel of the SUV, Brittany Jeffords, initially fled from police who were attempting to stop her for a traffic violation. She made a brief stop at a parking lot and let a passenger out of the car before speeding off again, evading authorities.
Police then chased the 24-year-old driver throughout the roads of Florence, going through abandoned lots and a trailer park. At one point, she clipped one trailer and was close to hitting terrified onlookers.
“She didn’t want to go back to jail,” Jeffords’s sister, Jamie, told ABC affiliate WPDE. “She had a warrant out for her arrest for armed robbery.”
Part of the footage shows Jeffords driving erratically along the highway where authorities performed a pit maneuver, causing the SUV to overturn onto its side. The car ended up rolling over multiple times before landing in a grassy area on the shoulder of the road. Jeffords was ejected from the vehicle as it was rolling over. She landed heavily on the road, a few feet away from the SUV.
Jeffords survived the event. The footage shows her lying motionless on the road.
She was then transported to the hospital in a non life-threatening but serious condition.
Several residents living at the trailer park questioned why authorities continued to chase after Jeffords when the pursuit reached their neighborhood.
“I like the officers, don’t get me wrong. But they should have let her go and got her later,” another resident Gary Odell Meadows said, reported WPDE.
No officers or bystanders were injured in the chase.
The 24-year-old was subsequently charged with four offences—two counts of failure to appear in court, one count of driving with a suspended licence, and one count of failure to stop for police.
She is currently being held at Florence County Detention Center on a $3,650.50 bond.