Mary Esther, FL – A suspected shoplifter allegedly tossed her baby at the arresting officer while trying to flee. The event occurred Monday around 7 pm.
The shoplifter, Ashley Taylor Wright of Pensacola, was patronizing a Dillard’s in Mary Esther, Florida. During her visit at the Santa Rosa Mall Dillard’s, the 23-year-old appeared to smuggle items using a baby stroller.
By estimates, the young mother tried to make off with $260 worth of clothing and items from the dressing room. An officer descended on Wright as she left the department store and ventured to the mall parking lot.
When the deputy approached Wright on suspicion of shoplifting and asked her to get out of the Nissan Pathfinder, she refused.
Her husband and two other children, a 2 and 4-year-old, were inside. Wright ordered her husband, who was in the driver’s seat, to take off. He didn’t.
Wright then reportedly held up a baby carrier with her 14-pound infant inside. While using her baby as a human shield the mother told the deputy:
“You will have to shoot through the baby to get me.”
Thereafter, the suspected shoplifter tossed her baby, carrier and all, at the arresting officer and fled from the vehicle, according to WTSP .
Thankfully, the infant was not injured.
Wright attempted to run from the scene, but was quickly detained by the officer. She fell, resisted arrest, and suffered a laceration to her head. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
The shoplifter was charged with child abuse without bodily harm, petty theft, and resisting an officer without violence.
The last charge was questioned by local news, the Miami New Times , who opined, “So apparently throwing a baby at someone does not count as resisting an officer with violence in the eyes of the law.”
It was not disclosed whether or not Wright’s husband was aware of her suspected shoplifting activities.
[Image via Shutterstock ]
