WINONA, Minn. — Police arrested a Rollingstone woman after a wild automobile chase through dozens of blocks on the West Side and was clocked as fast as 80 mph and running stop signs. The pursuing officer finally blocked Mackenzie Lynn Tahtinen, age 35, in a laundromat parking lot to which there was no exit. Still desperate to escape, she rammed her car into the laundromat building — once, then twice. After a third impact, the car’s mechanics failed. She ran off on foot. By then a second arrived and gave chase and tackled her into a snowbank. She physically resisted being cuffed, but the officers prevailed and took her to jail. This account is all detailed in the officers’ report. At jail the officers discovered that Tahinen may have been fleeing because she was wanted on an arrest warrant involving drunken driving and drugs. The new charges:
> Fleeing police in a vehicle and on foot.
> Assault.
> Fleeing police on foot.
> Driving with a cancelled permit.
> Obstructing the legal process.
> Reckless and careless driving.
Despite the tumultuous arrest, Tahtinen was unhurt, police said. However, the officer who started the chase and who trapped Tahtinen in the laundromat parking lot suffered leg bruises. He was stepping out of his squad car when Tahinen tried to squeeze her car around him. The impact slammed the squad car’s door into the officer, bruising a leg. She then backed out and rammed the laundromat yet another time. Here is a detailed sequence from the police report:
Tahinen. Midnight police chase through city streets. As fast as 80 mph, police say.
End of the line. The Suds Stor & More coin-operated laundry on the Far West End. At 1635 West Fifth Street.
> At 11:50 p.m. the first officer attempted a traffic stop at Huff and Sanborn for a signal violation. The driver sped off. Despite being pursued by the officer with his flashers activated, the driver made evasive turns into side streets. Stop signs didn’t slow her. Seeds reached 80 mph between corners. City streets are posted for 30 mph.
> The pursuit ran two miles: West two blocks on Sanborn to Grand Street, north to Broadway, west McBride, north to Fifth, west on Fifth.
> In the 1600 block of West Fifth ,apparently believing it was possible to evade the officer, the driver turned into the parking lot of the Suds Stor & More coin-operated laundry. The officer, however, saw the maneuver and blocked the lone parking lot access with his squad car. There was property damage: The Suds Stor, a cinder block structure, had minor dents. The squad car had door and fender scratches. The pursued car was inoperable.