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The Villages
Thursday, April 18, 2024

Woman who tried to outrun FHP on I-75 back in jail after failure to pay fine

Colleen Judith Kirk
Colleen Judith Kirk

A woman who tried to outrun the Florida Highway Patrol in 2020 on Interstate 75 in Sumter County is back in jail after her failure to pay a fine resulting from the chase.

Colleen Judith Kirk, 62, of Gainesville, was booked without bond Friday at the Sumter Count Detention Center on a pair of probation violations.

She had been placed on probation after the 2020 pursuit in which she was apprehended after sideswiping a fuel pump at a Circle K.

A trooper began chasing Kirk’s pickup at a speed of about 80 miles per hour as the truck crossed back and forth over three lanes of traffic. She pulled off I-75 at Exit 321 at County Road 470, west of the Coleman Federal Prison. She stopped briefly and the trooper exited his vehicle and approached her pickup, but she drove away, headed to a nearby Circle K where she sideswiped a fuel pump. The trooper ran back to his vehicle and used it to block Kirk’s pickup.

You can see scenes from the arrest in this video:

She had bloodshot eyes and smelled strongly of alcohol.

Kirk “seemed very confused and had no idea where she was at,” the trooper wrote in the arrest report.

She would not participate in field sobriety exercises. An inventory of the pickup turned up two open bottles of alcohol, one of them nearly empty. Kirk admitted she had taken medication that should not be mixed with alcohol.

Kirk was arrested on charges of driving under the influence, fleeing to elude and reckless driving. She was also cited for open container.

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