Suspect hits two police officers with car chase ensues

GUILDERLAND — A woman was apprehended by Guilderland Police after she fled from Crossgates Mall, hit two police officers with her car, and led a car chase.

Ina Bonilla, 33, of 39 Auburn Place, Brooklyn, was arrested on Sept. 29, for seven misdemeanors, eight infractions, and one felony.

Captain Curtis Cox, with the Guilderland Police, said the department received a call from security at one of the stores in the mall; the security officer reported that the store had been watching the behavior of two individuals, Bonilla and an unidentified male, and suspected they were using manufactured credit cards to make transactions.

Two plainclothes investigators from the Guilderland police arrived at the store as the suspects were leaving, and the officers followed them to the escalator, where they identified themselves and asked the suspects to stop, said Cox.

Bonilla and the man were carrying bags, which they threw at the investigators, and each fled in a different direction. The officers followed Bonilla to the parking lot, and told her not to get into her car, Cox said.

Bonilla did not comply, instead getting into her car and backing out of her parking spot, hitting both officers, who were still on foot. Cox said both investigators were slightly injured, and were treated and released at the hospital.

Bonilla sped onto the ring road, where a marked Guilderland police car followed her with lights and sirens activated, but she refused to pull over. The police car continued to chase her onto Interstate 87, and then on to Interstate 90 and off of exit three onto the state office campus. On the state office campus, a State Trooper joined the car chase.

Bonilla got back on to I-90, and, when she had to stop at the toll booth at exit 24, the Guilderland police car and State Trooper vehicle were able to block her in, at which point she was arrested, according to Cox.

Bonilla was arrested for eight infractions — speeding, failure to obey a traffic device, failure to stop at a stop sign, right-of-way violation, failure to stay in a single lane, driving off the pavement to pass on the right, following too close, and failure to obey a police officer; seven misdemeanors — second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, second-degree reckless endangerment, unlawful fleeing of a police officer, possession of burglar tools, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, and reckless driving; and a felony, assault with intent to cause physical injury to an officer.

Cox said that Bonilla was a “predicate felon”, and that it was clear she and her male co-defendant were professional criminals. He said the police are trying to apprehend the man that got away on foot at Crossgates. The department is also opening an investigation on the manufactured credit cards.

“I can assure you, this investigation will grow,” Cox said.

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