Charges include battery of an officer and fleeing with reckless indifference
A Morgantown woman is accused of fleeing from the police after causing a vehicle accident with her child in the car and attacking officers when they arrested her.
Stephanie Gifford, 31, is charged with two counts of battery on a police officer, fleeing with reckless indifference and child neglect by the Morgantown Police Department.
On Monday, Officer Smith saw a vehicle accident in the parking lot of the Kroger on Earl L. Core Road, according to a criminal complaint. One of the vehicles, a red Nissan Versa, left the accident without providing information.
Smith was walking toward the vehicle and yelled for the driver, later identified as Gifford, to stop. Gifford looked at Smith, yelled at him and drove at a “dangerously high rate of speed out of the parking lot,” the criminal complaint said. Smith also noticed a 10-year-old child in Gifford’s car.
Officer Melan found Gifford on Earl L. Core Road and attempted to stop her, but she kept going at a “high rate of speed” and passed multiple vehicles where there was no passing lane, the complaint said.
She was later found at Woodland Terrace in Morgantown and when the two officers arrested her, she fought them kicking Smith and Melan multiple times, including kicking Smith in the face, the complaint said.
Gifford is being held in North Central Regional Jail in lieu of $60,000 bond.
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