Witness says driver in rampage through Boston streets was "hitting everything but the lottery"
A driver is under arrest after what police said was a "rampage" through Boston's South End Tuesday afternoon.
An SUV was weaving through traffic with its air bags out, no front tires and the front bumper destroyed. Police said the driver refused to stop even after she hit several cars and dragged an officer.
Boston police officer dragged 20 feet
It began just before 2 p.m. on Tremont Street at Hamilton Place, near the Park Street MBTA station. A driver flagged down police because someone hit his car and tried to take off.
When a police officer found that driver, she approached the Honda Passport. Investigators said the SUV sped off and dragged the officer about 20 feet. A second officer was also hurt trying to stop the Honda, but both are expected to be okay.
The driver went on to hit several cars at Tremont and Stuart streets and a utility pole at Herald and Shawmut streets. She continued to drive the severely damaged Honda until she was finally stopped at Plympton and Albany streets. Boston Police Sgt. Detective John Boyle said the woman was taken to a hospital to be treated for a "non life threatening injury." She spent the night guarded by officers at the hospital. Police have not released her name.
According to the police report released Wednesday, the unidentified woman had a suspended driver's license. Officers allegedly found fentanyl and crack cocaine in the SUV.
"Rampage through the city"
Police said in the report that the "rampage through the city" led to "approximately ten 911 calls."
The woman is now facing a long list of charges, including driving under the influence of drugs, assault with a dangerous weapon, assaulting police officers, drug possession, resisting arrest and several counts of leaving the scene.
No date has been set for an arraignment.
"Hitting everything but the lottery"
According to the police report, one witness told officers the woman was driving with a "disregard for everything" and "hitting everything but the lottery."
"We just happened to look out the window, and there was this car in shambles and a woman on the ground with her hands cuffed behind her back. It's not unordinary to see someone sort of maybe driving too fast. But this is of course, you know, off the charts," said witness Joshua Paul. "It looked like it had been through war."
"An officer said to me, she started smashing cars downtown and made her way over here," Paul said. "My comments were, why didn't they stop her there? Then somebody said to me, 'Well, you can't really stop them in the action, you've got to kind of let them go until they run out of gas,' which I disagree with that. She could've killed somebody along the way."
No other information is available at this point in the investigation.
