Florida Woman Driving High On Laughing Gas Leads Deputies On Chase

A Sarasota woman is facing multiple charges after leading law enforcement on a chase in her Hummer, apparently high on nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office charged Kristina Grzep, 41 of, 9035 Misty Creek Dr., following what's described as a bizarre incident that ended on Interstate 75 this morning.

Deputies received a call around 9 a.m., of a suspicious vehicle on State Road 72 and the Bee Ridge Road extension. When deputies arrived, Grzep fled, driving her Hummer H3 toward a deputy’s vehicle and forcing him to take an evasive maneuver, according to the sheriff's office.

Grzep drove north on Bee Ridge Road and twice deputies successfully deployed stop sticks to deflate the tires but Grzep continued driving, forcing deputies to use a manuever to bump the Hummer at an agle, forcing it to turn sideways and stop at the northbound ramp to Interstate 75, according to the sheriff's office.

Grzep would not get out of the Hummer and deputies initially feared she was suicidal, but once a sheriff's office negotiator convinced Grzep to exit the Hummer, deputies found she had been huffing nitrous oxide, accoridng to the report. Grzep was medically cleared and then taken to the Sarasota County Jail.

Grzep, according to the sheriff's office, is charged with:

• fleeing to elude,
• Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer,
• Unlawful distribution of nitrous oxide and
• two counts of resisting arrest without violence