A North Carolina woman accused of plowing her car into a cop in a brazen, caught-on-camera attack was freed on bond just hours after her arrest – a “very frustrating” move that has police fuming.
Tanaezah Michelle Austin, 25, posted a $3,000 bond and was back on the streets hours after she was jailed for slamming her black Kia Optima into a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer as cops tried to break up a “street takeover” in Charlotte on March 1, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News.
Police said the officer was standing in front of the car ordering Austin to stop when she allegedly hit the gas and sped off amid mayhem unfolding in a Harris Teeter parking lot around 3:25 a.m.
“When I hear about someone being released on a $3,000 bond for running over a police officer on video, it boggles my mind,” said Randy Sutton, a retired police lieutenant and founder of The Wounded Blue, the outlet reported.
“In reality, that means she may have only had to put up about $300. She ran over a cop, and she walked out. This wasn’t an accident. She saw him, he was communicating with her and then she just gunned the car toward him. This could have been a fatal encounter.”
Harrowing footage shared on social media showed the car barrel into the uniformed officer, sending him rolling over the hood before stumbling and miraculously landing on his feet as she fled.
The cop was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries, police said.
Austin was arrested the following day and thrown behind bars for felony assault with a deadly weapon on a government official. She was released later that day, the outlet reported.
“To see a $3,000 bond for an offender, regardless of whether she has a criminal history or not, when the intent to flee was clearly there, is pathetic,” Dan Redford, president of the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police, said.
“It’s very frustrating. There are laws on the books that are supposed to protect law enforcement officers from these heinous attacks. When officers see this treated like just another incident, it makes them question whether they’re truly supported, especially by members of the criminal justice system.”
Redford warned morale sinks when the justice system doesn’t have officers’ backs.
US Rep. Mark Harris also blasted the incident, calling Austin’s bond a “complete slap in the face” to law enforcement for letting someone accused of mowing down an officer walk free so quickly, Fox reported.
“Running over a police officer is of the highest level of evil,” the North Carolina GOP pol said.
“It’s also a complete slap in the face for our brave law enforcement to see these kinds of criminals allowed right back on the streets. When is Charlotte going to end the crime cycle? When are magistrates going to keep bad guys behind bars? Enough is enough!”
Austin is reportedly due back in court on March 24.
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