Driver, Late for Work, Leads Officer on Chase

An irate driver told a California Highway Patrol officer that it didn’t matter that he was citing her for speeding, she was going to speed to work anyway, the officer said Friday.

She then sped off, heading east on Ortega Highway Thursday evening. As she left, her 1979 Chevrolet Camaro fishtailed and the right rear bumper hit the patrolman, spraining his knee.

“She said she was late for work and that the citation wasn’t going to slow her down,” CHP Officer Speros Doumas said Friday. “So she lays into the accelerator and her wheels are spinning, kicking up dirt and gravel. Then the car (begins) fishtailing and the bumper hits me in the knee.”

Doumas said he limped back to his car and gave chase on the winding, two-lane highway at speeds of up to 70 m.p.h.

Doumas said the woman’s car eventually “dove” into the right shoulder and stopped. She then stormed toward Doumas, yelling, “This is harassment,” Doumas said. He later identified her as Teri Willett, 25.

The two struggled as Doumas tried to arrest Willett on suspicion of reckless driving, he said. An off-duty Orange County sheriff’s deputy, who was driving by, saw the struggle, stopped and helped with the arrest, Doumas said.

Willett, a resident of Moreno Valley in Riverside County, was taken to Orange County Jail, where she was cited and released. She could not be reached for comment Friday.

Willett apparently was on her way to her job at the Pavilion Market in Moreno Valley, which is 12 1/2 miles east of Riverside, about 50 miles from where she was stopped.

“I called (her employer) who said she was supposed to start work at 6 o’clock. It was 5 p.m. when I stopped her, so she was definitely late,” Doumas said.

Doumas said he clocked Willett with the radar gun traveling 74 in a 55 m.p.h. zone about five miles east of Interstate 5 on Ortega Highway.

Except for an expired vehicle registration citation in 1986, Willett has a clean driving record, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Doumas will be off work for six days with his sprained and cut knee.

His opinion of Willett and the incident: “Just another happy customer.”