8-year-old girl ejected from SUV during Arnold police pursuit

An 8-year-old girl was ejected from the window of an SUV that Arnold police were chasing Saturday. The vehicle was driven by a woman who didn’t have a license because of a DUI suspension, police said.

An officer arrested Amanda Nicole Shaw, 30, of Arnold at gunpoint after she drove to her home and tried to run away on foot, according to a criminal complaint.

In the complaint, police said officers went to the area of Leishman Avenue and Drey Street just before 1 a.m. for a domestic dispute involving a woman trying to get another person to blow into an intoxilyzer interlock system.

Police said they arrived to find an SUV in the middle of the 1900 block of Leishman Avenue. Officers identified the driver as Shaw, who they knew does not have a driver’s license because of a DUI suspension, the complaint said.

Police said officers yelled at her to stop but she drove around a patrol vehicle. Officers followed her up Drey Street, where she began to pick up speed, according to the complaint.

As Shaw made a sharp left turn onto Dunn Alley, police said the 8-year-old girl, who was unrestrained, fell out of the passenger side front window. One officer stopped to help the child while another continued to follow Shaw, the complaint said.

Police Chief Eric Doutt said no update on the girl’s condition was available Monday morning.

According to the complaint, Shaw pulled into the grass behind her residence in the 1900 block of Woodmont Avenue. When she got out and tried to run on foot, the officer ordered her to the ground at gunpoint, at which point she complied and was taken into custody, police said.

The officer could smell a strong alcohol odor coming from Shaw, who had glassy and bloodshot eyes, and slow and slurred speech, according to the complaint.

Police said Shaw refused to give blood but gave a breath sample, which registered her blood alcohol level at 0.106%, over the legal limit of .08%. Shaw admitted to drinking, the complaint said.

Police charged Shaw with felony counts of endangering the welfare of children, aggravated assault, DUI, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer and flight to avoid apprehension; a misdemeanor charge of recklessly endangering another person; and a summary count of reckless driving.

She was arraigned Saturday and was being held in the Westmorland County jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Shaw’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10 before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr.