Big news here in Victoria TX LoL, Sheriff really ragged on BMW performance on the news.
Odd details emerged a day after a high-speed chase led law enforcement toward a potential disaster in Refugio.
Molly Delapaz, a 35-year-old Houston woman, began her strange trip on Wednesday afternoon. She visited Houston's Advantage BMW to test drive a used car. Salespeople didn't know she had no plans to return.
After an hour, salespeople contacted their parent company and then law enforcement. Together, they tracked the woman, via the car's onboard global positioning satellite system, to Jackson County.
Victoria County dispatchers were on the phone with BMW the moment Delapaz crossed the county's line.
"A pretty awesome little trip she took," said Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor. "Her mistake was that she came through Victoria County."
In Inez, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper tried to pull over Delapaz, but she fled. The trooper called for help to catch the woman, who was allegedly drunk and traveling up to 140 mph.
O'Connor dispatched two black, powerful Dodge Chargers. Deputies caught up to the woman near Fleming Prairie Road at U.S. Highway 77 South.
"I wonder what she was thinking when she looked in the rearview mirror and saw those two cars. Our cars seem to be quite competitive with our German competitor," O'Connor said. "You can run, but you can't hide."
Instead of slowing in the 2007 BMW Model 3, Delapaz hit the gas. Ahead at the Copano Creek Bridge, troopers and other law enforcement set the first of two spike strips 10 miles north of Refugio.
By this time, officers from two counties, as well as state troopers and a game warden, joined in the chase.
"Our biggest concern was that we'd all have to yield because of the danger of going into Refugio at that hour," O'Connor said. "It was about 5 p.m. People were going home, getting off work."
Law enforcement didn't have much time to react.
"Normally, it takes you 40 minutes to go from Victoria to Refugio," said Trooper Gerald Bryant. "She was going to make it in 20."
Refugio County deputies and a trooper set the spikes on the south side of Copano Creek Bridge. Refugio Sgt. Gary Wright watched Delapaz drive over the spikes and keep going. She drove so fast that video trained on the spikes captured a flash and little else, Wright said.
Less than a half-mile from Refugio, Delapaz's deflated tires caused her to spin and stop on the highway's center strip median.
Officers charged the woman with driving while intoxicated, a second offense, as well as felony evading arrest and felony property theft. She is in the Refugio County Jail.
Victoria County Sgt. Roy Compean drove the lead car during the pursuit.
"It's a big adrenaline rush. It's nerve-wracking," Compean said. "You worry about your safety, the safety of the public and the person you're trying to apprehend. Luckily, no one was hurt."
Other sheriff's office staff teased Compean a day after the chase. They called him, "Speed Racer." O'Connor also joked.
"A $22,000 Dodge not only caught up with but probably could have passed an expensive German vehicle," the sheriff said, laughing. "I wonder how much BMW will pay to keep this quiet."
Mike Calhoun, the general sales manager for Advantage BMW in Houston, wouldn't comment on this friendly competition. He did discuss Delapaz.
"Well, first of all the woman was really foolish," Calhoun said. "She left her driver's license here. I've been doing this for 27 years, so I've seen drive-offs a few times. The fact that this time it was a woman surprised me."