People v. Smoot CA3

I. BACKGROUND

Early in the morning on May 14, 2023, G. Andrade started the ignition of her car, which was parked along the curb in front of her house, and walked three houses down to get her mail. She passed defendant on her way to the mailbox. As Andrade turned to walk back to her car, she saw defendant get in her car. She screamed out “hey,” but defendant ignored her and drove away. Andrade had not given defendant permission to drive her car, so she called the police to report it stolen; she gave the police a description of the man she saw take her car. Later, law enforcement saw Andrade’s car being driven by defendant. After confirming the car was stolen, the officer followed defendant; a second officer joined and attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but defendant did not stop. Law enforcement continued to pursue defendant who drove at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour and into oncoming traffic. Law enforcement lost sight of defendant for about 30 seconds, then saw defendant had collided with another vehicle after driving the wrong way on an off ramp. Defendant got out of the car and ran from law enforcement. Defendant was, eventually, detained in a truck yard. Concerned…