"Yes. She said she was trying to get home to Rosedale. She lives in Rosedale," said Davis.
Wallace's desperate bid to cover the 27 miles to her house ended just three miles from where it began, and she now faces a series of charges including car theft, carjacking and several counts of assault including one on the deputy, which carries an even stiffer penalty.
A landscaping truck parked near a worksite on Ridgeview Drive in Forest Hill with its emergency lights flashing and its keys in the ignition, provided a temptation, which proved to be too much to resist for 33-year old Destinee Wallace who hopped in and drove away in the now-stolen vehicle Thursday night before running a second car off the road a short distance away in a desperate move to switch vehicles.
"They were telling them there was damage to their truck and to help them see if there was any damage to their truck,” said Major William Davis of the Harford County
Sheriff’s Office, “and the victim from the carjacking gets out to try to help the person and then our suspect tried to get in their vehicle and then there was a bit of a struggle."
At that point, police say Wallace jumped back in the truck and traveled down Route 23 where state troopers and Harford County Sheriff's deputies spotted her and gave chase.
In a matter of seconds, the driver attempted to turn off and found more marked units converging on the stolen vehicle.
"One of our deputies is then traveling on Route 24 in the opposite direction of where the pursuit is going and the suspect then sees our deputy coming up and actually crosses the center line and rams head-on into our deputy," said Davis.
The force of the collision is apparent in the smashed front end of the squad car, yet the deputy somehow emerged from the wreckage with relatively minor injuries.
The chase came to a stop a short distance down the Bel Air Bypass where police arrested Wallace and ultimately learned the motive behind stealing the car and launching a one-woman crime spree.
