NEWPORT, Ore — A woman in the midst of a severe manic episode led deputies on a chase down Highway 101 from Depoe Bay to Newport on Friday, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office.
Shortly after 2 p.m. Friday afternoon, a sergeant with the sheriff's office was patrolling Depoe Bay when he spotted what looked to be a disabled vehicle stopped in one of the southbound lanes of Highway 101 on Depoe Bay bridge. The vehicle, a green Subaru Outback, had its hazard lights on.
When the sergeant stopped to see if the driver needed help, the driver instead sped away, according to the sheriff's office.
Even when the sergeant pursued with his lights and siren on, the driver continued on — initially driving within the speed limit and staying within the correct lane. The sheriff's office said that there was little traffic to contend with at the time.
The Lincoln County sergeant requested assistance from Oregon State Police and Newport police as the pursuit dragged on.
The driver, later identified as a 66-year-old woman, allegedly started to drive more erratically around Cape Foulweather — speeding up to between 70 and 80 miles per hour and passing traffic in no-passing zones.
OSP set up spike strips ahead of the driver's route, disabling one of her tires. Though the sheriff's office said that this slowed her down, she continued into Newport city limits.
In Newport, the driver reportedly slowed down to a crawl. The same pursuing sergeant was able to get a look at her, judging that she was an "older female whose body language, demeanor, and driving habits led him to believe that she was experiencing an active mental health crisis."
A second set of spike strips disabled another one of the driver's tires, and officers finally boxed her vehicle in, bringing the pursuit to a halt in the 6200 block of North Coast Highway in Newport. The entire pursuit covered about 9.3 miles, the sheriff's office said.
When officers approached the woman's car to take her into custody, her doors were locked and her windows rolled up. Officers proceeded to begin breaking her windows.
"While doing so, [the driver] procured a sheetrock saw and appeared to be actively cutting herself with it," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The officers fired a Taser through one of the woman's broken windows, unlocked the driver's side door, and took her into custody.
The woman was reportedly evaluated at the scene by paramedics, who determined that she was uninjured but showed signs of "being in an active manic mental health crisis."
Deputies took the woman to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport for evaluation, but she was cleared for booking into jail. She was lodged on charges for fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, reckless driving, and two warrants out of Marion County.
The sheriff's office said that the Lincoln County Mental Health Department was briefed on Casterline's condition.
