A car speeds toward a juvenile on a dirt bike on the 7500 block of South Fruitvale Road in Spokane County, Washington (Spokane County Sheriff”s Office).
A Washington state woman spotted a kid riding a dirt bike on a sidewalk and sped her car after him before trying to break into a stranger’s home, authorities say.
Wendy A. Clemente, 56, has been charged with first-degree attempted assault, DUI, and first-degree criminal trespass, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office announced this week. She was booked into the Spokane County Jail and later released.
On April 28, at about 6:05 p.m., deputies said they responded to a report of a “reckless and aggressive driver” in the 7500 block of South Fruitvale Road in Cheney, Washington, a small city just southwest of Spokane. A driver of a Ford Focus “drove up on the sidewalk” in a neighborhood and “attempted to hit a juvenile” riding a dirt bike, police said.
The driver — alleged to have been Clemente — “chased the juvenile on the sidewalk before reentering the roadway and leaving the area.” Investigators then obtained a cellphone video of the incident.
The video begins with a silver sedan driving down a residential road with its horn honking. “This lady’s crazy,” someone close to the camera says. The car then turns left toward the child, with the kid looking back at the driver.
The camera loses track of its subjects, but as soon as it returns to them, we see the car is on the sidewalk some 10 to 15 yards behind the child. “She’s trying to run …” the person near the video says and then gasps when the car sped up.
Several other people can be seen reacting to the startling sight as the car returns to the road. Deputies said that the child “was not hit or injured,” and they began searching the area for the suspect.
About 25 minutes later, the sheriff’s office said its deputies were told about a possible burglary at a home in the 10700 block of West Melville Road, about 1 mile away. A man said he was watching someone on his live security system “trying door handles, and it was unclear if the suspect entered the residence.”
Deputies arrived at the West Melville Road address and found Clemente and her silver Ford Focus parked in the victim’s driveway.
They arrested and interviewed her. She reportedly explained that she was taking “her dog for a ride” and looking for other dogs for it to “socialize with” when she noticed a dog in this fenced yard. “She admitted she did not know the victim and denied entering or attempting to enter his residence,” the sheriff’s office added.
Clemente said “she did not remember” the incident with the juvenile on the dirt bike. Furthermore, while she initially “denied drinking alcohol or consuming any drugs,” she “later changed her story and admitted to drinking alcohol,” deputies said.
But when deputies tried to place her in the back of a patrol vehicle, Clemente allegedly resisted and tried to kick a deputy. She was restrained, and authorities “were granted a search warrant to obtain a sample of Clemente’s blood” for testing.
Clemente made her first appearance in court the following day, where a superior court judge allowed her to be released without needing to post bond.
