Edgartown police were led on a rare Island car chase that snaked through Upper Main street and ended in the town cemetery on Thursday morning with an arrest, a vehicle tow and a few toppled tombstones — but no injuries.
Police responded to an erratic operator complaint at 10:44 a.m. Thursday morning in the Ocean Heights area on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, according to Lieut. Chris Dolby.
“The driver was erratically passing cars coming into town,” he said.
The responding officer located the vehicle on Upper Main street, and flagged the car down as it failed to stay within marked lanes, according to Lieutenant Dolby.
“[The officer] started walking up to the car, but she just hit the gas and took off from him,” he said.
The driver, a 31-year-old woman from New Jersey, stayed right at the Cooke street fork, and then drove into the driveway of a private residence at 87 Cooke street.
“She then did a doughnut around in the yard, came back out, and actually went right across Cooke street into the cemetery and hit three headstones and got caught up in there,” Lieutenant Dolby said.
Police were able to arrest the woman without issue. There were no signs of intoxication, police said, but some indication of a mental health issue based on statements to police.
The woman was transported to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, he said.
Lieut. Dolby said the driver will face numerous charges, including failure to stop for police, leaving the scene of property damage and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.
The car involved in the chase was towed from the cemetery on Thursday, with minimal damage.
There were no injuries in the incident.
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