Southern California woman arrested after car plunges down embankment

A woman wanted for the alleged theft of more than $3,000 worth of retail products in San Bernardino County was arrested after attempting to flee police and crashing her vehicle down a steep embankment, officials announced Tuesday.  

The Feb. 14 incident unfolded at just after 2:30 a.m. at a 24-hour pharmacy at Foothill Boulevard and Mountain Avenue in Upland.  

Upland Police Department officers responded to reports of a “theft in progress,” with a pharmacy employee telling police that the lone female suspect loaded several carts worth of merchandise and when confronted only managed to escape the store with one cart.  

Witnesses told police that she then tossed the stolen products into a red Kia Soul and fled the area.  

In a UPD news release posted to social media, officials said responding officers were able to locate traveling southbound in heavy traffic on Mountain Avenue but failed to yield when police attempted to stop her vehicle.  

With police following her, the woman got on the westbound freeway where she eventually exited at Fairplex Drive and attempted to lose authorities in the hills above Brackett Field Airport in La Verne.  

“The female then entered an RV park where she misjudged a turn, slid down an embankment into the bushes,” the release detailed.  

Body-worn camera footage of the incident shows an officer exiting his vehicle with his firearm drawn and approach the crashed car.  

The suspect was arrested and some $3,145 in merchandise was recovered from her vehicle.