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Police officers twice failed to catch a shoplifter in a wheelchair as she evaded them during a blue light car chase.
Footage showed a South Yorkshire Police car blaring its siren as the suspect fled on a three-wheeled motorised wheelchair on Sunday.
Officers twice tried to cut across her wheelchair during the chase in Sheffield, in an attempt to force it to a halt. But the suspect escaped both times by manoeuvring around the car and continuing down the road.
The force reported later that it eventually apprehended the woman, who admitted to shoplifting “high value” goods from the nearby Meadowhall shopping centre.
‘Get out and run’
Loreto Valente, the manager of Carol Windows and Conservatories on Meadowhall Road, where the chase took place, questioned why the officers “didn’t get out and actually run”.
Mr Valente, 38, told The Telegraph: “The scooter … came down Meadowhall Road, which is directly outside our showroom, and carried on going past us. I don’t know how far down Meadowhall Road they went or whether they turned off.
“I’m assuming the police apprehended them in the end. But I don’t know why they didn’t get out and actually run after them, or something.
“I don’t know why they were trying to drive. You could run faster than that.”
In a statement, a spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: “Yesterday at 12.25pm we received a call regarding a report of shoplifting at Meadowhall shopping centre.
“It is understood that a 33-year-old woman stole a high value of goods and left the scene, travelling on a mobility scooter along Weedon Street.
“The woman was reportedly driving erratically, and an officer followed in a police car, due to concern for the woman’s own safety and that of other road users.
“The woman was detained, and the stolen items were recovered. The woman admitted to stealing the items and will be dealt with by way of an out of court disposal.”
