A resident of the town of Portage, Indiana, said she did not immediately pull over for the flashing lights behind her because, as a 52-year-old woman traveling alone at 11:21 p.m. on a dark county road, she was concerned for her safety. This happened at the end of March.
She assumed the car behind her was a police officer, and DelRea Good said she slowed her vehicle, put on her emergency flashers, and waved her arm out the window to acknowledge the pursing car.
Ms. Good continued for less than a mile where she pulled over into the lighted parking lot at a Kohl’s department store.
The decision not to immediately stop resulted in her being handcuffed and taken to jail by Porter County Sheriff’s Department Patrolman William Marshall on a felony charge of resisting arrest, states nwitimes.com.
It may also cost her her job, because a nurse cannot work after being convicted of a felony, she said.
“I felt I didn’t do anything wrong,” Good said. “I got to a safe place and I told him that.”
According to nwitimes.com, Porter County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Larry LaFlower said, “The sheriff’s office supports our officer’s decision in this matter.”
He cited state law requiring motorists to yield to emergency vehicles and said Marshall was driving a fully marked squad car and used the lights and siren.