Shoplifting suspect in wheelchair evades police chase

London: Police officers twice failed to catch a shoplifter in a wheelchair as she evaded them during a blue light car chase.

Footage showed a South Yorkshire Police car sounding its siren as the suspect fled on a three-wheeled motorised wheelchair on Sunday.

Officers twice tried to cut across her wheelchair during the chase in Sheffield as they attempted to force it to a halt. But the suspect escaped both times, manoeuvring around the car and continuing down the road.

The force reported later that it eventually apprehended the woman, who admitted to shoplifting “high value” goods from the nearby Meadowhall shopping centre.

Loreto Valente, the manager of Coral Windows and Conservatories on Meadowhall Road, where the chase took place, questioned why the officers “didn’t get out and actually run”.

Valente, 38, told the London Telegraph: “The scooter … came down Meadowhall Road, which is directly outside our showroom, and carried on, going past us. I don’t know how far down Meadowhall Road they went or whether they turned off.

“I’m assuming the police apprehended them in the end. But I don’t know why they didn’t get out and actually run after them, or something. I don’t know why they were trying to drive. You could run faster than that.”

In a statement, a spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: “Yesterday, at 12.25pm, we received a call regarding a report of shoplifting at Meadowhall shopping centre.