A Wisconsin woman was recently trapped inside her car and led on a police chase after a man stole it with her sleeping inside.
The woman had been sleeping in the back seat of the car early on Jan. 14 while her family went into a truck stop gas station. Around 3:25 a.m., she called police to report that a male stranger was now driving the car — and her — to an unknown destination, according to a press release from Columbia County Sheriff’s Office Lt. David Clark.
As police chased the vehicle, tire deflation devices were deployed successfully, but the man continued driving on the car’s rims. Eventually, law enforcement knocked the vehicle off the roadway with a PIT maneuver around 4:25 a.m.
Extensive dashcam footage of the incident is viewable on YouTube.
The suspect was identified as 51-year-old Kyle Wagner of New York. Methamphetamine was found in his car at the truck stop, Clark said, and he admitted to using fentanyl that day, local news outlet WKOW reported.
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As he led the police chase at high speeds, refusing to release the woman, Wagner told her he was “saving” her from people who wanted to kill them. He also told her, “If your husband was worried about you, he would be calling, but he’s not because he’s dead,” WKOW reported.
The woman told police that before he left the car, she heard Wagner say, “You see what’s happening when you didn’t listen to me? Now we will die.”
The woman reported being uninjured after she was rescued, according to Clark.
Wagner was booked in the county jail and charged with seven crimes, including felony eluding and false imprisonment, with additional charges expected, according to Clark. He’s set to appear in court for a pretrial conference on Feb. 20, WKOW reported.
