A drunken woman led a high-speed police chase and assaulted three officers, biting one in the leg, Saturday in New Jersey, officials said.
Thirty-year-old Jessica Hayes, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, faces DUI, aggravated assault and related charges after the chase that ended outside a Wells Fargo bank in Seaside Park, Ocean County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Bryan Huntenburg said in a news release.
A New Jersey State Park Police officer first spotted Hayes Saturday as she was leaving Island Beach State Park, Hunternburg said. She was allegedly driving over 70 mph in a 35mph zone.
Hayes ignored the officers' commands to pull over and kept driving north on Central Avenue into Seaside Park, Hunternburg said. She slowed down to 60mph but kept weaving in and out of traffic and the officer was forced to pull off due to "the substantial risk of injury to the public."
Later, two Seaside Park Police officers responded to a Wells Fargo bank on Central Avenue after receiving a call about a suspicious woman, Huntenburg said. As they were interviewing her, the New Jersey State Park Police officer pulled up and told the Seaside Park Police officers that he had tried to stop Hayes earlier.
Hayes allegedly appeared intoxicated, and officers began administering field sobriety tests.
As they tried to arrest the woman, she resisted and assaulted all three officers, causing minor injuries to the pair from Seaside Park and biting the leg of the one with the state park department, Huntenburg said.
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"Quite frankly, we are lucky no one else was injured by her reckless behavior on a very busy Saturday at the Jersey Shore. All of the officers involved did a great job and it looks like they will all be OK," Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said.
Hayes is charged with DUI and related charges, as well as three counts of aggravated assault and one count each of eluding police, resisting arrest and obstructing the administration of law.
