Police Chase Through Busy Tulsa Intersection Not First For Suspect

A woman who was arrested after a police chase Tuesday is the same woman who tried to ram her vehicle into the security gates at the Air National Guard last year, police say.

Police took Heather Thomas in for a mental evaluation after the chase. The same thing happened 18 months ago. But, there's no record that after that evaluation, charges were ever filed.

11/22/2017 Related Story: Catoosa Police Box In Driver At Intersection After Chase

District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said that's because police never sent a report to the DA's office for charges. He said police handled the matter as a mental health issue and took Thomas in for an evaluation.

At that time, in July of 2016,  Thomas drove up to the security gate at the Air National Guard base, claimed to have a bomb and refused to get out of her vehicle for 90 minutes until negotiators convinced her to surrender, police said.

Bomb squad officers searched but never found a bomb.

Earlier that same day, Thomas had gone into a gas station, a grocery store and fire station. She was acting strangely, talking to herself, and saying she needed help, but, she yelled and refused to stay when people called 911 for her, police said.

Fast forward to this week. A judge issued a mental health pickup order for Thomas so Tulsa County deputies were trying to do just that when she refused to stop.

She never drove very fast, but, drove from east Tulsa through Catoosa, to the Creek Turnpike to Broken Arrow, where the  pursuit came to a stop in heavy traffic, police said.

Kunzweiler said he'll now be checking on the case.

So after this most recent incident, after the mental evaluation is complete, we'll be checking to see if any charges are filed.