Video shows shoplifting suspect slip handcuffs, lead police on wild chase

A woman suspected of shoplifting in Lufkin slips out of her handcuffs in a police vehicle and steals it while the arresting officers search her belongings, in a video released by Lufkin police. Then, she leads police on a wild chase through the countryside.

The video posted on the Lufkin PD Facebook page begins with Toscha Sponsler, 33, of nearby Pollok being handcuffed face-down on the ground after being chased on foot during her initial arrest in an Ulta shoplifting case.

She’s then shown wriggling in the back seat of the patrol unit. She manages to remove her seat belt, slips the handcuffs, climbs through a window partition into the driver’s seat and flees.

While she’s doing this, one of the officers looks through the passenger door window to check on her before resuming his work outside. She, meanwhile, checks to see where the officers are, before climbing into the front seat and taking off.

“Gawd dang!” one of the officers yells as she speeds off. “Hey!”

Sponsler leads police from several agencies on a 20-minute chase that reaches speeds up to 100 mph and includes near collisions before a DPS trooper coaxes her into a spin, causing her to lose control of the vehicle and slide to a stop on the side of the road in Zavalla, about 25 miles southeast of Lufkin.

Police converge on the stolen vehicle with weapons drawn, break the driver’s side window and pull Sponsler out.

The video ends with a shot of a police officer installing a “tactical window limitation device” in a police vehicle and giving a thumbs up above the hashtag note “foolmeonce.”

Sponsler waived medical treatment after the incident Saturday and was taken to the Angelina County Jail, where she is being held on $18,000 bond, police said.

Authorities threw the book at her, accusing her of escape causing serious bodily injury and threat with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault against a public servant, possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest with a vehicle with a previous conviction and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 9:02 AM with the headline "Video shows shoplifting suspect slip handcuffs, lead police on wild chase."