Shoplifter tries to run down cops in getaway attempt

A Gainesville, Florida woman is in big trouble this week after she reportedly attempted to back over one police officer and then accelerate over another officer as they pursued and attempted to arrest her.  According to an article from the Gainesville Sun, Cassandra Leigh White Carson, age 50, left a Kohl's department store after neglecting to pay for about $300 worth of merchandise, only to discover that she had not been as discreet as she intended.  Police officers were waiting for her in the parking lot.

Cassandra Leigh White Carson following her short-lived life on the lam.

Rather than surrender and face the heat for shoplifting, Ms. Carson decided to take her chances on the road.  She jumped into her car and drove backwards towards an officer, who had to dive out of the way to avoid being struck.  She then drove forward towards another officer, reportedly at a high rate of speed.

Admittedly, if she did cross the $300 threshold, it would increase her possible incarceration from a maximum of one year, the punishment for retail theft of less than $300, to a maximum of five years, according to Florida shoplifting punishment laws.  However, Ms. Carson is now facing, in addition to the charges for grand theft, two charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest without violence, fleeing an officer, and leaving the scene of an accident.  (That last one stems from the vehicle she sideswiped on her way out of the parking lot en route to freedom.)

Despite her heroic, but rather misguided attempt to escape, Ms. Carson was apprehended by other officers shortly after she fled the parking lot.

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