Police confirm they were pursuing the driver who damaged six parked cars and crashed her own S-U-V at West 21st and Cranberry Street Monday night. Police say the woman, age-27 was ejected from her car. Rescuers rushed the woman to UPMC Hamot in traumatic arrest. They have not released her name.
Police were in the neighborhood to investigate a harassment complaint. A mother who lives in the 1100 block of West 21st Street called police, complaining that the woman driving the car was harassing her daughter after the two had a falling out. Police Chief Steve Franklin says his officers were told the woman threatened to drive her car into the house and was seen speeding through the neighborhood, running a stop sign and narrowly missing another car.
"She had made some serious threats," said Chief Franklin, "a threat of crashing into the house, into a tree...so there was a concern to get this individual stopped and try to determine exactly what was going on with her, so a reason to go after this individual...definitely."
On Tuesday morning you could see the shattered glass and broken bits of cars, evidence of the way that pursuit ended. The Erie Police Department has a policy on pursuit and when it's justified. He believes his officers did the right thing, but the department has launched an internal investigation to be sure that rules were followed.
We visited the home where the harassment complaint originated. A man who answered the door said the women involved were at the hospital, paying their respects.
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