A woman was shot by Tarrant police after authorities say she rammed a couple of police cruisers and was heading straight for an officer trying to stop her.
The shooting culminated a lengthy chase through Tarrant that began with a busted taillight. It all started about 9 p.m. on Sloan Avenue and Jackson Boulevard, said Police Chief Dennis Reno.
An officer pulled the motorist - a 32-year-old white female - over because her taillight was out. It was then officers realized the woman had outstanding arrest warrants for escape and second-degree assault.
Those charges stemmed from her appearance in Tarrant Municipal Court on Friday, June 29, when a judge found her in contempt of court and ordered her to jail. The woman, police said, ran out of the courtroom and jumped in her car to flee. She ran over an officer's foot as she made her getaway.
So, instead of stopping Monday night, Reno said, the woman took off again and the chase ensued.
The pursuit traveled through the city until it got to North Springdale Road and that is when the suspect realized she was on a dead-end street in neighborhood with nowhere to go. As she turned around in a resident's yard, she smashed into a Tarrant police SUV intentionally, Reno said, and the officer opened fire. "There was no choice,'' Reno said.
The woman was struck multiple times. Still, the chief said, she was trying to resist after being wounded. She was taken to UAB Hospital with at least one potentially life-threatening injury.
Reno said he requested the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office to investigate the shooting because it is officer-involved, which is standard procedure. Tarrant and sheriff's investigators remained on the scene late into the night.
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