A Sioux City woman, who was driving a stolen car, was killed when the vehicle crashed on the city’s west side early Friday morning. Police Chief Joe Frisbee says 33 year old Cassandra Ann Cooper was hitting speeds near 100 miles per hour.

Frisbee says the owner of the vehicle was eventually located and stated that the car had been stolen Thursday night. Officers chased Cooper before she missed a curve and the car hit a utility pole and retaining wall. Frisbee says the outcome could have been much different. He says it’s always a better idea to pull over and obey an officer.

"First of all, it’s the law," Frisbee said. "Second, nothing good can come out of it and very few people ever get away." Frisbee defended the officers’ high speed pursuit, which started at 1 a.m. when they tried to pull the car over for speeding.

"The officer never did obtain the speed that (Cooper) did, she was actually moving away from him very fast," Frisbee said. "He was going to suspend the pursuit, but then the accident happened." Investigators say, in addition to driving a stolen car and speeding, Cooper did not have a valid driver’s license.