A police chase with speeds reaching 130-miles an hour ended in southwest Iowa this morning with an Illinois woman under arrest. Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sergeant Duane Ritchie says the 37-year old Angela Rupnawar, of Elgin, Illinois, faces charges of child endangerment, eluding, excessive speed and reckless driving.
Ritchie says the incident began about three-20 A.M. when Deputy Brian Miller clocked Rupnawar’s Honda Accord running at 101-miles per hour on Interstate-80 at mile marker 21. Ritchie says the deputy engaged in pursuit, at which time Rupnawar’s car sped up to as much as 130-miles per hour. The pursuit ended near the Avoca exit when another deputy deployed stop sticks and flattened the car’s front tires.
Ritchie says Rupnawar faces child endangerment charges because there were three children in the back seat of her car. He says Rupnawar spoke broken English, so it was difficult to determine why she was driving so fast, but they were able to learn the woman had some "family problems" that caused her to be upset.
Ritchie says the woman’s sister was following behind in another vehicle before the pursuit engaged. She and other family members advised deputies the woman also apparently has some sort of mental disorder. Rupnawar was being held in the Pottawattamie County jail on an unspecified amount of bond.