By BRAD KELLAR
Herald-Banner Staff
July 09, 2009 01:15 am
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Trial is scheduled Monday for a Lamar County woman on charges of child endangerment and evading arrest, in connection with a reported high-speed chase last summer through portions of Hunt and Delta counties.
Vicki Dawn Szalay, 44, of Sumner, was arrested following the pursuit on the evening of July 15, 2008. Szalay was charged with evading arrest/detention with a vehicle and two counts of endangering a child, for having two children in the back seat of the station wagon she was driving at the time. She had pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Both the prosecution and defense announced they were ready to proceed with Szalay’s trial during a hearing Tuesday in the 196th District Court.
According to criminal complaints filed as part of court records, the Commerce Police Department had received a notice to be on the lookout for a blue Chevrolet Cavalier, heading toward Commerce on State Highway 224. The vehicle was being sought in connection with a reported aggravated robbery at Crossroads Mall in Greenville earlier that evening.
Commerce police officers in separate patrol cars reported they fell in behind Szalay’s vehicle and turned on their lights and sirens, but that the suspect refused to pull over and led the units on a chase “well over the speed limit” east on Highway 224 and then northbound onto Highway 24/50 into Delta County. The chase finally ended about three miles south of Cooper, when Szalay surrendered.
Inside the vehicle, officers found several items which were believed to have been stolen during the reported robbery, including items of clothing with the price tags still attached, a pruner, a candle and a lady’s shaver.
The two children, a 12-year-old male and 6-year-old female, were brought to the Commerce Police Department and later turned over to Child Protective Services.
The indictments filed by the Hunt County grand jury in February indicate Szalay has four prior felony convictions, three for possession of cocaine and one for credit/debit card abuse, dating back to 2001.
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