Woman steals purse from 84-year-old, leads Livonia cops on chase

(WJBK) - A 31-year old woman is accused of stealing an elderly woman's purse before leading police on a high speed chase.

Police say the suspect Kaitlin Klaus allegedly got into her black Jeep, left the Mobile gas station on Merriman and Schoolcraft and started heading eastbound on I-96.

"Our officer was waiting on the shoulder to see if any vehicle match that description went by and sure enough, she went by him," said Livonia Police Capt. Robert Nenciarini.

Police dash cam video shows that at one point the officer had to go over 100 miles per hour to catch up - all this for stolen purse from 84-year-old woman. Police say inside was money, credit cards and some ID.

After trying to ditch the cops, she exited at Davison in Detroit, where Livonia police stopped the chase. 

"When they start driving crazy like that and we felt fairly confident after running the license plate and taking a look at her that we knew who she was and we would get her later," Nenciarini said.

She was arrested about five hours later after the incident on January 30. Police say she stole the purse because she allegedly fell on hard times. Those hard times got her charged with three felonies including larceny and fleeing and alluding a police officer. She could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

She'll be back in court later this month. Luckily there were no injuries.