Chase plows through two counties

Brad Kellar
The Commerce Journal

COMMERCE July 24, 2008 04:02 pm

— A Lamar County woman remained jailed Tuesday, after allegedly leading law enforcement authorities on a high speed chase through Commerce and into Delta County on the evening of July 15.
Vicki Dawn Szalay, 43, of Sumner, northwest of Paris, was arrested following the pursuit, which began around 7:30 p.m., according to Commerce Police Department Officer Elliott Ball, who said Szalay was charged with evading arrest/detention with a vehicle and two counts of endangering a child, for having two children in the back seat of the station wagon she was driving at the time.
“It was horrifying,” Ball said of the realization that Szalay was speeding and driving recklessly with the children in the car. “It was something you never want to see.”
Ball said the department received a notice of a blue Chevrolet Cavalier, heading toward Commerce on State Highway 224, being sought in connection with a reported aggravated robbery at Crossroads Mall in Greenville earlier in the evening.
“We intercepted the vehicle at the city limits, right as she got into town,” Ball said.
Ball said he and Officer Amanda Taylor, in separate patrol cars, fell in behind Szalay’s vehicle and turned on their lights and sirens.
“She would not pull over,” Ball said, noting Szalay was already speeding up. “It was well over the speed limit. We did notice the two children in the car and that was our main concern.”
The chase proceeded east on Highway 224 and then northbound onto Highway 24/50 toward Delta County.
“She wasn’t very good at handling a vehicle at high speed,” Ball said.
The pair were joined in the pursuit by a Hunt County Sheriff’s Deputy and the officers called ahead to the Delta County Sheriff’s Office.
“They joined in shortly after we crossed the county line,” Ball said.
The chase finally ended about three miles south of Cooper, when Szalay surrendered.
Inside the vehicle, officers found several items which were believed to have been stolen during the reported robbery, including items of clothing with the price tags still attached, a pruner, a candle and a lady’s shaver.
The two children, a 12-year-old male and 6-year-old female, were brought to the Commerce Police Department and later turned over to Child Protective Services.