A woman has been arrested after police say she stole a car and led them on a chase lasting almost a half-hour, nearly hitting an officer and crashing crashing through a set of TRAX crossing arms during the ordeal. The incident began around 5 a.m. in Taylorsville. While on their way to responding to a different call, a Nissan Sentra suddenly went into oncoming traffic, forcing the officer to take an evasive response in an effort to avoid being struck by the vehicle. The officer made a U-Turn and began to pursue the vehicle, which was soon revealed to have been stolen out of Murray earlier in the morning.
The chase went from Taylorsville, into Salt Lake City, on to southbound 1-15, and continued even after the car ran over a spike strip laid by police. The car eventually approached a Trax station with the crossing arms down, but ran straight through them. According to Unified Police the driver then made "several U-turns" before crashing over the sidewalk near 7200 South and 180 West. At the time the car finally crashed the tires were completely gone and the car was failing.
The driver got out and attempted to carjack another vehicle, actually getting another car to stop, but officers were able to tackle her before she could get into that car. Rachel Powell, 23, was arrested and taken into custody on several charges. She was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. She has been arrested before for shoplifting and drug-related charges, and had outstanding warrants for her arrest for failing to show up for court.
Photo courtesy of Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office