OREGON WOMAN SPEEDS HIGH ON SPEED IN STOLEN COP CAR

After stabbing a man in the back, Tara Axmaker stole one of the responding cop cars and led police on a 15-minute chase while high on speed at speeds up to 120 mph

In 2010, Axmaker had stabbed another man in the back while also high on meth. She was sentenced to four years in prison for that meth-fueled assault. At the time The Oregonian reported that “Axmaker said she wants to enter a drug treatment program while in prison. She said the day of the attack she was ‘wigged out’ and believed she and her companions might be killed by intruders she imagined were close by.” If she entered a drug treatment while in prison, it apparently did not work.

TARA AXMAKER’S METH-FUELED JOY RIDE IN STOLEN CLACKAMAS SHERIFF’S CRUISER
Axmaker taunts pursuing deputies over police radio with singing, swearing, babbling -- all while careening along darkened country roads, with no headlights, at speeds up to 121 mph

By Steve Mayes

The Oregonian
January 10, 2014

Tara Elizabeth Axmaker, high on meth, stabbed a man in the back in the wee hours of March 15, 2013, at a Mulino-area home.

When Clackamas County deputies arrived, they found the bloody victim but no Axmaker.

As deputies scoured the crime scene, Axmaker climbed behind the wheel of a responding deputy's patrol car and led the cops on a "Dukes of Hazzard" pursuit down back roads and around blind curves.

The chase, and Axmaker's expletive-filled running commentary, was captured on the patrol car's video cameras and on police radio.

She drove without headlights at speeds that hit 121 mph, finally driving off Oregon 213 as she careened toward Molalla.

Miraculously, no one was injured as Axmaker meandered into the oncoming traffic lane, ignored stop signs and evaded her pursuers.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office released the video this week in response to a public records request submitted in October by The Oregonian.

Axmaker pleaded guilty Oct. 15 in Clackamas County Circuit Court to first-degree assault for the attack and to aggravated theft and attempting to elude police. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Throughout the 11-minute ride, Axmaker can be heard on singing, swearing and carrying on an incoherent monologue. The audio is sometimes muffled, because Axmaker was sitting on the microphone.

"We're on a high-speed chase (expletive)," she said as she began her misadventure.