After she decided to leave, she ran several stop signs, and apparently went speeding through the school zone. In that case, you have to consider whether or not her driving constitutes a positive hazard, and she needed to be stopped, as opposed to merely tracked down later. It's a tough call, and could go either way -- but given that the cop didn't really know her intentions, a cop might reasonably assume that this lady, who's obviously disturbed, might go so far as to try to kill herself and her kid by forcing a head-on collision with some other driver. (I guess it's a somewhat popular form of suicide.)
This is a seriously disturbed lady, and I think Dear Old Dad probably bears some looking-into as well.
I really feel for the poor little kid. At school he's got to live with the stigma of having a crazy mom, and at home he's got to live with a crazy mom (and maybe dad).
Five points.
First, no where in the article was speeding in a school zone mentioned.
Second, under current code interpretation a motorist must come to "a complete rest" for at least two seconds before proceeding through a stop sign or it is a legally rebutable presumption that the motorist "ran the stop sign". Many Californians violate this interpretation of the code section, even at busy intersections and are not cited.
Third, the article did mention that the woman obeyed a traffic light during the "pursuit".
Fourth, the article mentioned that the woman reasoned that the citation could have been as easily administered at the school as at the point of first offense. A reasonable conclusion.
Last, no where does the article state that the motorist was speeding after the initial stop.
The woman's poor judgement with regard to public property (the citation book) and her definace of authority certainly warrented careful examination but hauling her off to jail was an obuse of authority under color.
While I agree that fleeing ought to be severly punished, nothing indicates from this story that there was anything but a speeder that took off afterward.
Around the country cities are getting hammered in these chases when they end in injury and death.
In this circumstance and from this story I can't see chasing this woman for 16 mph over the speed limit. I've run her plate, I've seen her face, lock her up later.