A Jefferson City woman was released Friday after posting a $25,000 bond, following the filing of formal charges in a case that included a high-speed chase along parts of U.S. 54 in Miller and Cole counties.
Prosecutors on Friday charged the woman, Pearlie Bell, 24, 903 Harding St., with resisting a lawful stop, a Class D felony, and driving without a valid license, a misdemeanor.
In probable cause statements filed with the charges, Cole County Deputy Chad Lindsay said he saw a gray Pontiac Grand Am pass him in the eastbound lanes "at a high rate of speed" around Brown Road, and the car crossed the median at the Route D intersection and continued eastbound in the westbound lanes, still "at a high rate of speed."
Lindsay said the Pontiac returned to the eastbound lanes at the Monticello Road intersection, and he "paced the vehicle's speed at 85 mph at (U.S.) 54 and Goller Road. I continued following the vehicle from Goller Road, where the vehicle traveled between lanes and several times drove straddling the centerline."
Deputy Lindsay's report said the car lost control at the Missouri 179 overpass, "where it came to a stop facing westbound in the eastbound lanes, almost striking a JCPD officer who was outside of his vehicle on the shoulder of the highway."
After the car stopped, Lindsay reported, "Bell refused to get out of the vehicle and tried to climb into the back seat.
"When deputies were able to drag Bell out of the vehicle, she continued to resist by refusing to get on the ground and was taken to the ground by deputies."
She also refused to place her hands behind her back, despite being ordered to do so several times.
Paul Reinsch, the Highway Patrol's Troop F Information officer, said Thursday the chase that ended with Bell's arrest began after Kansas officials asked Missouri to look for a vehicle suspected of having been involved with a home invasion in Kansas, "and troopers located the vehicle near the Lake of the Ozarks and attempted to stop it."
Reinsch said officers tried "at least twice (to) use spikes" to flatten the tires on the fleeing car, and "eventually did get one of the front tires spiked," ultimately causing the chase to end at the U.S. 54/Missouri 179 interchange at the southwest edge of Jefferson City.
No one was hurt in the chase, he said.
No details were available Thursday or Friday about the Kansas home invasion that launched the effort to stop the car.
No court appearance had been set yet in Bell's Cole County case.