A 40-year-old woman who told police she lives in a tent was arrested Wednesday after she tried to escape arrest by running into heavy traffic on a busy highway while holding a young child.
It happened around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to an arrest slip. A detective driving on Interstate 65 South near the Fern Valley Road ramp saw “a female panhandling, holding a small child with no shoes with the current temperature being 81 degrees, on the exit ramp to Fern Valley Road.”
The woman, identified as 40-year-old Patricia Konfrst, told the detective that she was the child’s mother and lives in a nearby tent. Previous records indicate that several 911 calls were received earlier in the week asking police to check the welfare of the child but officers were unable to locate her.
Investigators learned that Konfrst had a warrant for her arrest but were unable to immediately take her into custody as she ran across 6 lanes of Fern Valley Road through heavy traffic with the child in hand fleeing from officers.
Police said Konfrst refused to stop and was knocking on strangers’ windows, putting herself and her child in danger of physical injury or death. As officers closed in on her, police said Konfrst ran onto the highway with the child in hand, attempting to stop the flow of traffic.
Konfrst was finally caught but initially refused to stop squeezing the child, in order to be placed under arrest.
The child was given food and juice by officers and Child Protective Service was notified, according to the arrest slip. No further information on the child is available at this time.
In addition to the charge(s) in the original arrest warrant, Konfrst is charged with wanton endangerment, fleeing or evading police on foot, endangering the welfare of a minor, and disorderly conduct.
Source: WDRB
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