Elizabeth Jean Patterson
A woman is facing carjacking charges after trying to drive off in the civilian car of a sheriff's reserve officer on Tuesday night.
Elizabeth Jean Patterson, 21, is also charged with criminal impersonation, resisting arrest, and two counts of aggravated assault on police.
Officers said they had been looking for a couple who had run across Highway 58, saying they were endangering themselves and others.
Reserve Deputy Kevin Richey was helping in the search when he spotted the woman and asked if she was okay. She responded by running back across the busy highway and getting into the front seat of his vehicle.
Not knowing he was an officer, she yelled for him to drive the vehicle off with her in it.
Another officer came up and there began a struggle with the woman, who had at one point gotten in the driver's seat and began to try to drive away, dragging two officers a few feet. One of the officers was then able to reach in and get the car in park.
The woman kicked one officer and to bite another as well as bend his finger back. She eventually had to be tased.
She initially gave a false name, but officers later learned her identity.