Lt. Houston Johnson of the Harker Heights Police Department said two residents made calls to police saying they had witnessed a struggle between a man and a woman.

“What actually happened was that they were acquaintances traveling together and they pulled over to have a discussion about who was going to drive,” he said. “The male didn’t think she was oK to drive so he took the keys away from her and she got in the car.”

When Belton Police officers and the Bell County Sheriff’s Office stopped the car they got the male out and she slid into the driver’s seat, took off and fled, Johnson said.

With a 4-year-old child in the vehicle, the woman led police down U.S. Highway 190 and onto Interstate 35.

“So, the police didn’t know if they had a kidnapping involving the child,” he said. “They tried to get information from the man while the chase was going on.”

As the woman got farther north on I-35, Belton and DPS officers alerted the Temple Police Department as the suspect entered the city.

“We got word that they were coming from Belton, and we started slowing down traffic,” said Temple Police Officer Timothy Simeroth. “We were trying to keep everyone in one lane of traffic.”

It’s called a slow roll, and it is when police officers follow a suspect at a distance to prevent any residual accidents or to keep the driver from being motivated to speed up. It’s part of Temple Police policy that says an officer can stop a pursuit at any stage if it could endanger public safety.

Simeroth and his fellow officers were following this procedure and did not want to employ any extreme manuevers to stop the woman.

“We did not use spikes because we didn’t want to cause an accident.” Simeroth said.

After chasing the woman for dozens of miles and through several cities, the woman crashed her red-colored vehicle into several feet of water and was apprehended by police and taken to Bell County Jail.

“Suprisingly, everybody walked away from the vehicle,” Simeroth said. “Two people were transported to Scott and White. It could have been bad.”

The woman was treated at the scene and the juvenile was among the two that were transported to the hospital.

“We don’t know why she did this,” the officer said. “People live in the moment.”

Even though Simeroth doesn’t know what caused the woman to lead police on a chase through Central Texas, he is thankful there were no major injuries.

He said, “Our primary concern was keeping other accidents from happening and keeping the public safe.”

jgrassi@temple-telegram.com