A high-speed chase with a baby in the back seat of a sport utility vehicle was captured Sunday on dashboard camera video in Camden County, authorities said.
As of Monday, Stephanie Thompson, 32, of Jacksonville, remained in the Camden County jail without bond after deputies say she led them on a chase Sunday evening on northbound Interstate 95 while her baby was in the back seat.
Investigators tell News4JAX that it all began when the radar inside a patrol deputy’s car recorded Thompson traveling at 104 mph. Investigators say Thompson refused to pull over and tried to get away. At one point during the chase — which cannot be seen in the dashcam video — investigators say Thompson rammed one of the pursuing deputies that tried to perform a PIT maneuver on her SUV.
At this point during the chase, video shows the SUV weaving through traffic. Moments later in the video, the SUV driver rides the left shoulder. Then the SUV can be seen leaving the far left lane and dipping around a car in the far right lane before going onto the right shoulder. As soon as the SUV and the pursuing patrol car get past traffic in the video, the deputy moves in on the SUV and performs a PIT maneuver. In slow motion, the SUV can be seen trying to regain control, but the vehicle spins out of view and comes to a stop. The deputy who performed the PIT maneuver also appears to lose control in the video but manages to stop his patrol car and prevent crashing into the guardrail.
“It would have been a hell of a lot better if she wouldn’t hadn’t come around and hit the ******* back of my vehicle,” a deputy can be heard saying in the video.
Investigators say the pursuing deputy had no idea a baby was in the back seat until after he performed the PIT maneuver. Fortunately, the baby was unharmed.
Thompson is charged with aggravated cruelty to children since investigators say there was an infant in the SUV. She is also charged with aggravated assault and destroying government property because deputies say she purposely rammed a squad car while a deputy was trying to pull her over. And she is charged with eluding police. All of those are felony charges.
Investigators say Thompson was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.