(Memphis) A woman, wanted in both Southaven and Memphis, crashed her car trying to get away from police, leaving a young teenager in the car when she slammed into a tree on Rangeline.
Police say the 15-year-old was hurt but going to be OK . Witnesses of the crash though say Nemeka Mathews didn’t seem to care if the girl was OK or not.
“Her only concern was that she wanted her tennis shoes,” said Witness Angela Young, who lives next to the crash site.
Young showed us where it all went down, “Right here at the red light.”
It’s where police say Mathews slammed into a tree trying to get away from police. The woman, wanted on shoplifting charges out of Southaven and stalking charges in Memphis, was chased by police down Whitney, speeding through red lights, then crashing in the woods on Rangeline. Police say she left a 15-year-old girl in the front seat as she ran through the woods trying to get away. Officers ended-up catching her, cuffing her and sitting her on the curb.
“She was sitting there with no shoes on and all she was concerned about was a $100 pair of shoes. Not the child. Not the fact that the child was OK and that nobody was hurt or injured, just concerned about her shoes.”
Paramedics rushed the girl to Le Bonhuer, then police booked Mathews. They say she’d been driving without a license, no insurance and was wanted for stalking. She allegedly called a woman at her workplace 10 times in one day, threatening to kill her. That was just six days before Mathews came close to killing herself and the teenager in her car.
“To endanger the life of a child? What would be so important for you to do that?” asked Young.
According to court records, seven people have filed orders of protections against Mathews and she has filed 11 orders of protection against others.
Police say she is also a suspect in an arson case.
She’s in jail on a $25,000 bond.