Spike strips needed to end police pursuit
A Fort Walton Beach woman is in jail, charged with drunk driving, resisting arrest and fleeing officers after all four tires came off her vehicle - the result of law enforcement-placed spike strips.
It happened in Navarre, about 3 a.m., when Okaloosa Sheriff’s deputies notified Santa Rosa Sheriff’s deputies they were in pursuit of a vehicle clocked at 91 miles per hour, heading west on U.S. Highway 98.
Santa Rosa lawmen spotted the truck described by Okaloosa deputies, then fell in behind 34-year-old Michelle Rae-Thibodaux Haws for a mile and a half near the county line, according to Santa Rosa Sgt. Scott Haines.
Haws refused to stop, so Santa Rosa officials called ahead and spike strips were set up. When Haws hit the strips with the tires on her truck, the tires deflated, eventually coming off. She was apprehended on Hwy. 87, according to Haines.
Once she stopped, reports say Haws told deputies she “knew she was in trouble and that is why she fled deputies.” She also allegedly told police she “knew what she was doing and wanted to give the deputies ‘some excitement.’”
She was arrested with a reported blood alcohol level at .147. She is being held on a $6,750 bond.
Santa Rosa officials stressed that the spike strips are designed to deflate tires and not “blow” them. The spikes are hollow and stick into a tire upon impact, releasing the air.
“If the spikes were solid, running over them at 90-100 mph, which is a typical speed in a high speed chase, would cause a blowout and probably a significant traffic crash,” Haines said.
“The hollowness and general fragility of the spikes leads them to stick into the tires, giving a thin hole in which air can slowly escape from the tire. This lets the air out much slower, causing the vehicle to slow down and stop.”