ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Florida cops prevented a ‘mass casualty’ incident by stopping a woman who was reportedly about to drive her car through the route of a 5K run on Thanksgiving morning.
Ashlee Lauren Morgan was driving her 2019 Range Rover Velar, while speeding at 60 mph on Thursday as she approached 21st Avenue NE, near the route for the Coffee Pot Turkey Trot, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department. The 5K route was closed to traffic. Authorities said the woman was stopped before driving her vehicle into the event and crashing into runners, FOX 13 Tampa Bay .
Morgan, 38, was allegedly driving in a “reckless manner” as she approached the route where around 3,000 people were participating in the 5K event, according to the arrest report.
Police said in the report that Morgan “Refused, ignored commands of ‘Stop!’ and fled the scene of the stop at an extremely high rate of speed, onto the actual racecourse, further putting the lives of runners/race participants at risk.”
As she tried to flee from law enforcement officers, Morgan was eventually “forced” to stop at an intersection. Had she not been stopped by police officers, officials say that she would have caused “mass casualty to race participants.”
The police affidavit said when one officer attempted to stop Morgan, she “placed her hand up in the air in a dismissive manner, and fled from him as well.”
Moreover, the out of control woman “repeatedly banged her head” against the window of a police cruiser after she was taken into custody, and placed her feet “out of the rear driver side door” while refusing to put them back inside the car. As a result, officers deployed pepper spray on the non-compliant woman, FOX reported.
Morgan faces charges that include leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, two counts of fleeing and eluding police, reckless driving, and resisting police.
