Iowa Woman Leads Police on Chase in Car She Reported ‘Stolen’

A female suspect in Iowa fleeing a traffic stop allegedly called police and told them the car she was driving had been stolen.

Reports said that Rachel Thornburg, 20, ran a red light on Tuesday around 10:30 a.m. and led police on a chase down a highway in Clinton. During the chase, Thornburg called the sheriff’s office and said she had left her keys in the car and that the vehicle was stolen.

“When she took off running, and we got the call, we thought: ‘Oh sure,’” Clinton County Sheriff Rick Lincoln commented.

Thornburg described the vehicle to authorities as a 1998 grey Buick Century, identical to the one the officers were pursuing.

The Iowa State Patrol was finally able to stop Thornburg’s car by deploying stop sticks that flattened the vehicle’s tires, WQAD 8 reported. At 11:29 a.m., the suspect was taken into custody and identified as the woman who reported her own car stolen.

Thornburg was charged with driving with a license under suspension, reckless driving, and speeding. However, she was released from jail Wednesday after posting a $2,000 bond.

In a similar instance in 2015, Breitbart News reported that a Florida man who led police on a dangerous high-speed chase said his dog was the one driving the car.

The driver, Reliford Cooper III, eventually crashed his vehicle into a home and ran from officers who cornered him at a nearby church.

“Who was chasing me? You’re slow as ****!” Cooper reportedly said to a deputy.

“My dog was driving that car. I ran because I wanted to. You ain’t gonna find no drugs or guns on me,” he told the police. However, no dog was found at the scene.

Officers said they smelled alcohol and pot on Cooper and that he became nauseous and complained of pain in his neck. Authorities took the suspect to Manatee Memorial Hospital and then transferred him to jail.