Middletown Woman Crashes Near Mar-A-Lago After High-Speed Chase

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Middletown woman was arrested after authorities said she drove through two checkpoints near Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida during a high-speed chase with police Friday.

Authorities say the driver, identified as 30-year-old Hannah Roemhild, was driving on the wrong side of the road at 70 mph as she was approaching Mar-a-Lago. Concerned that the driver could be using the vehicle as a weapon, authorities fired several shots at the vehicle in an attempt to stop it, officials said during a press conference Friday afternoon in Palm Beach. No one was injured during the shooting.

Roemhild continued driving and police ended the chase for safety concerns. She was later located at a nearby hotel and taken into custody. She was tackled outside of a local motel where she appeared to be trying to make her way to a room, according to authorities.

President Donald Trump was not at the resort at the time of the incident, but was scheduled to arrive later in the day.

Palm Beach County Sherriff Ric Bradshaw said that Trump did not appear to be a target and Roemhild ending up near Mar-a-Lago most likely was just a coincidence.

“This is not a terrorist thing,” Bradshaw said during a press conference. "This is somebody that obviously was impaired somehow and was driving very recklessly, and endangered not only the public, but the law enforcement officers that were there."

Bradshaw said Roemhild likely had “no intention of going to Mar-a-Lago” but she was driving on a road that leads nowhere else but Mar-a-Lago.

“I’m not so sure she knew where she was going,” he said.

The situation began unfolding around 11:40 a.m. Friday when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper responded to a woman “acting irrationally” and doing some kind of dance on top of a car in a hotel parking lot, according to Bradshaw.

The trooper found Roemhild in a vehicle and tried to get her attention. Roemhild ignored the trooper and appeared to be driving away, according to Bradshaw.

At that point, the trooper smashed the window to try and grab the wheel but it didn’t work and Roemhild drove toward Mar-A-Lago, Bradshaw said.

Roemhild was charged with two counts of aggravated assault on an officer. She was additionally charged with fleeing/eluding police and resisting arrest without violence.

Roemhild refused to appear in court on Saturday morning and the judge rescheduled her bail hearing for Monday morning, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Watch the full press conference regarding the incident with the Palm Beach County Sherriff’s Office on Facebook here.