Impatient driver lands in ditch after sideswiping vehicles to get around freeway closure at end of wild pursuit

A woman who became impatient with a freeway closure prompted by a wild police pursuit was arrested herself after sideswiping several cars, nearly hitting a CHP officer, and ending up in a ditch.

The unrelated crash happened as police were taking down an armed suspect who had carjacked a construction truck near Claremont. The California Highway Patrol had shut down the eastbound lanes of the 10 Freeway after the suspect in that pursuit abandoned the construction truck and ran across lanes, and was finally caught by a K-9.

The woman had apparently gotten caught in the backup on the eastbound 10 Freeway. Police say she got tired of waiting in traffic, so she drove into the emergency lane, sideswiping several other vehicles in the process and nearly hitting a CHP officer.

The woman was driving too fast for the illegal maneuver, according to the CHP, hit a curb and flipped her car into a ditch.

One driver said he had been on the way to the beach when it all happened in quick succession.

"They stopped us for the first time for the truck that got stolen, and so we're just all waiting right there, and then all of a sudden, that car just takes off, taking everybody, and even took some guy's doors," he said. "It was all crazy."

The woman was not hurt, but she was arrested. Witnesses say she was crying as she was being arrested, and said it wasn't her fault.