12/1/2009 3:26:00 PM Woman leads deputies on chase through Cornville
Laura Bertinot-Knight
Yavapai Sheriff's Office deputies were called to a trespassing report on Frey Ranch Road in Cornville Thursday. Property owners showed deputies a marooned Honda Element in their field.
They said the driver stopped in front of a gate to their pasture and asked the homeowners to open the gate. They refused. She drove away but then returned and rammed the gate open with her car, nearly hitting the residents and horses.
The vehicle belongs to 47-year-old Laura Knight of Sedona. As deputies approached, she drove toward a deputy, who took cover behind a fence. The woman accelerated away from the deputy, struck a horse and left the pasture through the gate she had rammed open, then drove north on Page Springs Road. Deputies pursued the vehicle until it reached SR 89A, where she struck "stop sticks" which deflated as least one tire. And her vehicle stopped.
Knight reversed her vehicle nearly striking approaching deputies. One deputy fired a Taser dart from his stun gun striking Knight, the vehicle stopped and Knight was restrained and handcuffed. After an examination by EMS personnel, she was booked at the Camp Verde Detention Center. She was charged with aggravated assault on law enforcement, aggravated assault, three counts of endangerment, felony flight, criminal damage and criminal trespass. She remains in-custody on a $15,000 bond.
There was no immediate evidence of narcotic or alcohol influence and the cause of Knight's behavior remains under review.
