A Florida woman is in jail, and her car still in impound, after she tried to steal it from a DeLand towing service lot.
Angel Jenkins’ car was towed about a month ago. The car was in storage at Dixon Towing Service in DeLand, Florida.
Jenkins, 34, showed up on Tuesday, July 31, and said she would pay the approximately $700 release fee, but she would need to get her wallet out of the car first, according to WKMG.
A tow yard employee brought Jenkins to her car and let her in. Once inside, Jenkins started the car and attempted to drive away.
The employee radioed the office and told the other workers to close the gate. Jenkins made a break for it, running right over the employee in her haste to flee.
One of the lot employees had partially blocked the gate with his pickup truck. Undeterred, Jenkins rammed the gate and the truck. When the gate held, she backed off and tried again.
Thwarted by the barrier, Jenkins reversed, spun the car around, and tried to drive away through the woods at the back of the tow lot. She rammed another fence but again couldn’t get through. She was heading for another fence when her car got stuck.
Two Volusia County deputies soon arrived and one asked the tow yard employees what had happened.
“She tried to crash through our fence right after she ran over me—she ran slap over me, dude,” one worker told the deputy. “She wrecked my truck,” said another. “Yeah, knocked him down—I was with him.”
When the employees told the officer that the suspect was in the car, stuck in the woods, both deputies took off on foot.
Ramming someone with a vehicle constitutes assault with a deadly weapon. The lead deputy drew his firearm, knowing the suspect was potentially very dangerous.
The first deputy ordered Jenkins to exit her car repeatedly, but Jenkins tried to duck below the dash. “Get out! Hey! I see you!” the officer shouted, but Jenkins stayed inside.
The second deputy broke the passenger side window so he could open the door. A K9 unit was brought up. Finally, realizing she was caught, Jenkins exited through the driver’s side door and lay on the ground.
After Jenkins was arrested and cuffed, police searched the vehicle and found a small bag of what tested positively as methamphetamine, tucked in the driver’s door pocket.
Now, along with the growing bill for her impounded car, Angela Jenkins faces an array of charges including possession of methamphetamine, burglary of a conveyance, resist arrest with violence, aggravated battery, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, grand theft—motor vehicle, and two counts of criminal mischief over $1000 for the damage she did to the gate and the employee’s pickup truck.
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