Gainesville Police arrested a local woman Monday after police said she tried to steal another woman’s car and later led police on a chase in a stolen water delivery truck.
Police arrested 33-year-old Melody Chrystal Bull on charges of attempted carjacking, resisting an officer, habitually driving a car with a suspended license and hit and run.
At about 3:30 p.m., a woman was walking to her car outside the Winn-Dixie located at 300 SW 16th Ave. when Bull approached her with her hand under her dress as if she were pointing a gun, according to the report.
“Give me your car keys,” Bull told the the woman, who replied: “No, my children need this car,” according to the report. A man in the parking lot noticed the two women fighting and confronted them. The woman said Bull was trying to steal her car, but Bull said the car was hers.
The man didn’t know who owned the car, so he asked them to give him the keys, according to the report. The woman agreed, but Bull took the key off the ring.
A Winn-Dixie manager came outside and convinced Bull to give back the keys, according to the report. Bull then ran away through the parking lot.
Moments later, she jacked a Culligan water truck making a delivery at Oaks Pawn & Jewelry, located at 320 SW 16th Ave., said GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias. The manager of the store stood in front of the truck and waved his arms, but Bull drove at him.
The manager jumped out of Bull’s way, and she struck his car as she drove away, spilling five-gallon water bottles out of the back of the truck, Tobias said.
Officers followed the car but couldn’t stop Bull on Archer Road, Tobias said. A high-speed chase began on Interstate 75 until she pulled over at mile marker 376.
Officers booked Bull into jail at about 7:30 p.m., where she remains as of press time in lieu of a $67,000 bond.
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 1/16/2014 under the headline "Woman steals water truck, high-speed police chase ensues"
