Heavy police activity temporarily backed up traffic on I-20 West near downtown Atlanta on Thursday after a woman suspected of aggravated assault led officers on a brief chase before crashing, officials said.
The incident began just before 2:15 p.m. when an officer responded to reports of an aggravated assault at the Quick Pick convenience store on Forsyth Street, Atlanta police said. The officer tried to detain the woman, later identified as 32-year-old Angela Knighton, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of a car with the door open.
Knighton tried to drive away, reversing the car with the door open and knocking down the officer, police said. The officer was not injured during the incident.
After escaping, Knighton drove south and onto I-20 West, police said. Patrol cars quickly caught up to her and performed a PIT maneuver, forcing the car to stop at the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive exit. Knighton was arrested without further incident and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital as a precaution.
The scene was surrounded by more than a dozen police cars and two ambulances. Multiple westbound lanes of the interstate were closed, causing unusually bad Thursday afternoon traffic in the area, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center. All lanes were reopened just before 4 p.m., according to Channel 2 Action News.
No further information has been released about the aggravated assault that led to the chase.
Knighton was booked into the Fulton County Jail on multiple counts, including aggravated assault, aggravated assault against a police officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, driving on a suspended license and other traffic violations, online records show. She remains in jail without bond.
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