Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Michelle Breann Bartholomew, 26, was arrested yesterday after authorities said she struck a patrol vehicle with her car, drove toward another deputy’s vehicle, and fled the area with children inside her sedan.
Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to Tower Oaks Glen Apartments at about 6:44 a.m. on July 4 after a report that a woman in a white vehicle was attempting to run over a man.
When the first two deputies arrived in a patrol vehicle, they encountered Bartholomew in a white sedan in the parking lot. As they parked, Bartholomew allegedly accelerated toward them and hit the front passenger-side door of the patrol vehicle. Deputies said she then accelerated toward a second patrol vehicle, but that deputy was able to swerve out of the way.
A fourth deputy turned on lights and sirens and tried to initiate a traffic stop, but the sedan left the area, allegedly exceeding the speed limit and running several red lights. The pursuit was called off near NW 8th Avenue and NW 34th Street, and a deputy reported seeing the sedan turn north onto NW 31st Terrace.
Deputies described the driver as a “heavy build black female,” and reported seeing two young children inside the sedan during the pursuit.
Authorities later located the same woman walking with two children in the 2000 block of NW 34th Street. When she saw deputies, she reportedly tried to jump off a bridge, but deputies restrained her and took her into custody.
Bartholomew allegedly declined to provide her identity.
When deputies located the white sedan, they noted that there were no car seats for the children, who are 5 and 8 years old and “small in stature.”
Bartholomew has been charged with two counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, aggravated fleeing, and two counts of child abuse without great bodily harm. She has no local criminal history, and Judge Jonathan Ramsey set bail at $100,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
