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The woman could have continued to drive down the course and at least injure multiple people, police said.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Police arrested a St. Petersburg woman who allegedly drove her Range Rover onto the racecourse where the Coffee Pot Turkey Trot 5K was being held on Thanksgiving Day.
Ashlee Morgan, 38, faces several charges, including fleeing and eluding law enforcement and resisting an officer, online jail records show.
Morgan was seen recklessly driving her SUV just before 8 a.m. Thursday toward 21st Avenue Northeast and Coffee Pot Boulevard — upward of 70 mph in a residential neighborhood, an arrest report states. Eventually, she came to a stop at the Snell Isle Bridge as there were multiple police cars and law enforcement officers blocking anyone from going forward.
The report reads that Morgan asked police why she was being stopped. After her ID was requested, she reportedly instead took off — ignoring commands to “stop!” — and drove onto the course.
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Police say nearly 3,000 people participated in Thursday’s race.
Morgan again reportedly drove off from officers at Snell Isle and Brightwater Boulevards before she was forced to stop at Brightwater Boulevard and Lamara Way.
“If it were not for the officers at the intersecting [sic] gaining the defendants [sic] attention, and forcing her to stop, she would have ignored all traffic safety obstacles strategically placed at the intersection, and barreled through the intersection causing mass causality to race participants,” the arrest report reads.
After her arrest, Morgan repeatedly banged her head against the rear driver’s side window of the police car and ignored commands to stop, the report reads. She then placed her feet out of the door and refused to put them back in so the door could be closed, prompting officers to use pepper spray.
Jail records show she was booked at the Pinellas County Jail and bonded out for $10,650.
