BRIDGEPORT, PA — A Bridgeport woman led police officers on a 13-mile low speed chase across a large swath of Montgomery County over the weekend, slamming her vehicle into police cruisers six separate times before authorities were finally able to capture her, officials said.
The incident occurred on Saturday, Jan. 17 at around 8:20 a.m. at the Reach Climbing and Fitness Facility on 401 E. 4th Street.
Owners called police after a confrontation with Arlene Eve Cameron, 62, of Bridgeport, who refused to leave the facility. When police arrived, they ordered her out of her vehicle, and she refused, authorities said.
While police were attempting to get her to come out, Cameron called 911 and told dispatch that she was planning to run the officers over, according to police.
A few moments later Cameron put the vehicle in reverse and slammed into the police cruiser behind her, then lurched forward, nearly striking the officer in front of her, police said.
She sped off down E. 4th Street and stopped around 219 E. 4th Street, and officers re-engaged her, attempting this time to force open her doors. She again threw her car into reverse, slammed into the cop car behind her, and then slammed into a second patrol car in front of her, police said.
She sped off down Valley Forge Road and drove some two miles to the Upper Merion Township Police Department, crashed into a police vehicle for a fourth time, and led pursuing cruisers down Henderson Road, according to authorities.
On Henderson she stopped her vehicle again, and police tried to get her out of the car again, but she slammed into an East Norriton police cruiser, the fifth vehicle she struck, to plow a path to escape, police said.
Cameron then proceeded to drive another 11 miles in what police called a “low speed pursuit,” turning onto Gulph Road and eventually Montgomery Avenue and finally Lancaster Avenue when she arrived in Ardmore, authorities said.
She turned into a parking garage at Lankenau Hospital in Lower Merion, smashing through parking garage gates and slamming into two parked cars and one car that had been abandoned by the driver when they saw Cameron coming, according to police.
Police surrounded her in the garage, and she crashed into a Bridgeport police cruiser, her sixth time striking a police car, before officers were finally able to break into her vehicle and arrest her, they said.
Bridgeport Police Chief Todd Bereda praised officers from several municipalities involved, including Bridgeport, Upper Merion, Lower Merion, East Norriton, and West Norriton, for safely resolving the incident.
“Policing is an extremely difficult profession, made much more difficult when a perpetrator fails to comply, or is incapable of compliance, with the lawful order of a police officer in the line of duty,” Bereda said in a statement. “I am thankful that the injuries sustained to both the dutiful officer and the criminal defendant were not of a greater degree and that the citizens of Bridgeport may be just a bit safer today.”
Cameron suffered non-life-threatening injuries while being placed under arrest, and a Bridgeport officers suffered a broken hand. Both were treated at Lankenau’s emergency room and released.
Cameron was then booked at Montgomery County Correctional Facility and charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, fleeing an officer, and numerous other counts.
Bail was set at $99,000, which she did not post. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 4.